The Louisiana v. Callais returned to the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week, which could have a profound impact on the court-ordered redistricting on multiple fronts underway in Alabama.
It appeared to be a hopeful sign, according to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.
During an interview with Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show," Marshall, also a candidate for U.S. Senate, said he was "encouraged" by the arguments presented to the high court.
"Yeah, very encouraged. I mean, if you just, number one, the fact that the court relisted the case to specifically address a question that we think is fundamentally important here in Alabama, and that is the ability of courts to order very specific districts that are minority-majority districts and whether or not that's compliant with the Constitution. And, you know, I do think that, you know, the Milligan case that we argued that came back adverse to Alabama in a 5-4 decision against us, really laid out for the court the consequences that could occur as a result of not, at least at that point, accepting Alabama's arguments. And I think that's been now manifested and reflected in what's taken place in Louisiana. I do think there's buyer's remorse from the court as far as what they've ordered before.
If you look specifically — I think we tried to follow the questions that Justice Kavanaugh asked and what the chief asked during our oral argument this week. We were very encouraged to see that Justice Kavanaugh remains kind of committed to this idea. Is there not a point in time in which there needs to be a time limit around race-based remedial efforts? And when you look at the victories that occurred in the college admission cases about rejecting race-based preferences, we think that same argument remains analogous to what's going on in the redistricting context. Remember, we have more than just simply our congressional cases pending. You also have the matter involved in the state senate district here in Mobile.
That now is up before the 11th Circuit. And then maybe in that area not followed as much the Jefferson County Commission District case, the 11th Circuit granted a stay this week. And so we think things are moving in a very positive way. Our case, right now, on the congressional side, is sitting with a cert petition at the Supreme Court. I will not be surprised at all based on what they ultimately do with the Louisiana case, if our case is not sent back down for further consideration in light of what they decide to do. But I think if you read what both commentators in this space have written and then lawyers that are following the court, everybody seems to be very encouraged if you're in the position of Alabama about the direction it seems to be going."
Jeff Poor is the editor-in-chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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