The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Sept. 28, 2023

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

“The application for stay presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied.”  So read the entire ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on the State of Alabama’s Hail Mary to save its defiant Congressional District map.

In a 5-4 decision in June, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Alabama’s racially gerrymandered Congressional map, and mandated two of seven districts be majority-minority Black districts, or “something quite like it.”  The state legislature responded with one district at 50.65%, and another at only 40%.  In response, the federal appeals court appointed a special master to draw the maps..  Alabama’s AG requested a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, which was denied September 26th.

Many were surprised by Alabama’s defiant position. Reporting by an Alabama news outlet now appears to show why.  Sources told the Alabama Political Reporter that Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, acting on intelligence from a Washington law firm and with support from groups tied to Supreme Court power broker Leonard Leo, pushed to get the case back before the Supreme Court, where Justice Brett Kavanaugh might change his mind on the case.  That plan was derailed in the latest decision, to the benefit of Alabama’s Black voters.

The special master has now submitted three maps, all within the court’s parameters.

We have links to the Alabama Political Reporter’s revealing articles at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Alabama Reflector – Federal court blocks Alabama’s congressional map, orders new lines drawn
Alabama Reflector – U.S. Supreme Court rejects Alabama’s request to stay redistricting decision
U.S. Supreme Court – ORDER IN PENDING CASE 23A231 ALLEN, AL SEC. OF STATE V. MILLIGAN, EVAN, ET AL.
CNN – Special master in Alabama redistricting case proposes three House maps in a closely watched voting rights fight
Alabama Political Reporter – Inside Alabama Republicans’ plan to overturn Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act
Alabama Political Reporter –  Dark money: The backstory of Alabama’s redistricting defiance
Alabama Political Reporter –  Opinion – Alabama’s defense of its voting maps had a specific target

Groups Taking Action:

National Redistricting Foundation, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ACLU Alabama

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The post U.S. Supreme Court Refuses Stay for Alabama’s Defiant Redistricting Map, Despite Alleged Plan to Allow Justice Cavanaugh to Change His Mind appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

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Today’s Links
Articles: 
Washington Post – Supreme Court frees Louisiana to use congressional map drawn by GOP
Vox – The Supreme Court just handed down very bad news for Black voters
NAACP Legal Defense Fund – U.S. Supreme Court Reinstates Louisiana’s Discriminatory Congressional Map
NPR – Supreme Court blocks creation of 2nd majority-Black congressional district in Alabama
Groups taking Action:
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Power Coalition for Equity & Justice, ACLU of Louisiana, Alabama Voting Rights Coalition

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Lost among Tuesday’s testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson to the January 6th Committee was a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court restoring racially gerrymandered Congressional districts in Louisiana. 

A conservative Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals sided with Governor John Bel Edwards, who argued that since Black citizens make up one-third of Louisiana’s population, Congressional districts should be drawn to include two majority-minority districts.   But the U.S. Supreme Court now says the legislature’s maps should be used, pending another case this fall.  Now, instead of two districts out of six, Black voters have only one, with the districts manipulated by the legislature to dilute Black, more liberal, voting power. 

In 2013, the court eroded much of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Then in 2019, the court said that redistricting was inherently political and the states should have the ultimate authority.   

Enter Alabama.  In a case similar to Louisiana’s, Black voters were gerrymandered out of their second Congressional district.  Lower courts ruled fair maps must be drawn, but the high court issued a stay in February, pending a full hearing of the case in October.  But even if the gerrymandered maps were thrown out– not likely with the current rogue court – it would come too late for African-American voters in Alabama and Louisiana to have real say in their government.

Links to more information on the decision and groups taking action are at our website, AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we have, it’s something we DO.”  For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.

The post American Democracy Minute for June 30, 2022: U.S. Supreme Court Restores Racially Gerrymandered Maps in Louisiana appeared first on American Democracy Minute.