Alabama’s newly-drawn congressional map was struck down once again by a federal court because it didn’t create a second majority-Black district.
The federal judges wrote that they were “deeply troubled” that the state legislature refused to draw two majority Black districts.
“We are deeply troubled that the State enacted a map that the State readily admits does not provide the remedy we said federal law requires,” the judges wrote.
The same court ruled last year that officials in Alabama should draw a second majority-Black district to comply with the Voting Rights Act.
In June, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the lower court decision that Alabama’s existing map—with one majority Black district out of seven—violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act because it dilutes the voting power of minority voters in a state where 27 percent of the population is Black.
However, the new map proposed by Republican state lawmakers did not have a second majority Black district. Instead, they increased the percentage of Black voters in the 2nd Congressional District from around 30 percent to nearly 42.5 percent.
The judges on Tuesday ordered a special master to redraw the maps to create a second Black-majority district by September 25.
