Alabama will keep its current congressional map for the remainder of the decade unless the state gets a favorable ruling on a forthcoming appeal, according to a filing by Reapportionment Committee chairs State Sen. Steve Livingston (R-Scottsboro) and State Rep. Chris Pringle (R-Mobile).
A three-judge federal panel ruled on May 8 that the congressional redistricting map passed by Alabama Republican lawmakers in 2023 violated the Voting Rights Act.
A spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall told 1819 News recently that they plan to appeal the ruling. If the state were to get a favorable ruling on appeal, Alabama would likely use the previous map passed in a special session in 2023.
The State of Alabama is still defending its congressional map, which legislators approved in 2023. A special master hired by a three-judge panel in Birmingham redrew the map for the 2024 congressional elections after Democrats and liberal groups were successful in their initial legal challenge. The issue is still being litigated.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs also agreed during a Zoom hearing with the three-judge panel on Wednesday to support keeping the current congressional map in place.
U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco and U.S. District Judge Terry Moorer ruled the 2023 plan violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Michael Taunton, an attorney representing Pringle and Livingston, said in a filing on Wednesday, “The Chairs, through their counsel and after coordination with respective leadership for the Alabama Legislature, state that both they and leadership for both chambers of the Alabama Legislature will voluntarily forgo any rights that they may have to attempt to draw an additional congressional district map as part of remedial proceedings in this case.”
“While Defendants maintain their arguments about the necessity and constitutionality of any remedial plan, Defendants do not plan to submit any further remedial plan so long as the Special Master’s Remedial Plan 3 (the “Special Master Plan”) remains in place, thus maintaining the status quo pending any appeal,” Taunton said in the filing. "Further, the Chairs, through their counsel and after coordination with respective leadership for the Alabama Legislature, represent in good faith that neither they nor leadership for either chamber of the Alabama Legislature have any intention of passing any additional congressional district maps before receiving 2030 census data. These statements are provided subject to the Defendants’ rights to appeal, which the Defendants explicitly reserve. Except as explicitly stated, nothing in this notice is intended to constitute a waiver of any right or argument.”
Filing Redistricting 2 by Caleb Taylor on Scribd
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