Supreme Court to Hear Alabama Redistricting Challenge
Source: Associated Press
The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider a challenge from Alabama Democrats who say a Republican-drawn legislative map intentionally packs black Democrats into a few voting districts, giving them too little influence in the Legislature and shutting out white Democrats in the process.
The justices agreed to hear a pair of appeals from the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus and other Democratic lawmakers who contend the new map created in 2012 illegally limits black voting strength and makes it harder to elect white Democrats outside the majority-black districts.
A panel of three federal judges had ruled 2-1 last year that the new districts were not discriminatory and did not violate the Voting Rights Act or the Constitution.
Joe Reed, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference, said the Republican-designed districts were contrived to reduce the number of black voters in majority white districts.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/supreme-court-hear-ala-redistricting-challenge-23955426
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