MONTGOMERY – Alabama Republicans are optimistic about the U.S. Supreme Court's (SCOTUS) recent decision to scrutinize whether red states can be forced by courts to draw second majority-minority congressional districts.
SCOTUS instructed the parties in a Louisiana redistricting case to address whether drawing a second majority-minority district violates the Constitution. The outcome of the case would have implications for Alabama. Alabama is defending against a similar ongoing redistricting lawsuit.
David Bowsher, legal counsel for the Alabama Republican Party (ALGOP), told attendees at ALGOP's summer meeting on Saturday, “The Supreme Court is now looking at the very issue that we hoped they were going to look at a year ago in our case but better late than never.”
“We are all waiting with bated breath to see what the court does,” Bowsher said.
The Supreme Court could rule on the case no later than June 2026, according to Bowsher.
ALGOP chairman John Wahl told reporters after the meeting he was optimistic about the Supreme Court taking up the Louisiana case.
“Our argument has always been that if we truly get to the root cause of racism, it’s dividing people and looking at people based on the color of their skin. We’re advocates for not looking at individuals’ backgrounds or dividing our communities but looking at each individual as unique and special. If you look at it through that context, it shouldn’t matter what your background is. It shouldn’t matter what the color of your skin is. If that’s the case, if any district is drawn on the basis of the color of someone’s skin, it is racist by the nature of that decision,” Wahl said. “We are optimistic. It obviously looks like with this request from the Supreme Court that the Supreme Court is looking at that same thought that look if you start looking at people and dividing people based on their ethnic background that is a type of racism and districts should not be drawn on that and it could violate the Constitution with looking at the 13th and 14th amendment.”
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