According to Katherine Robertson, the chief counsel for Alabama's attorney general, the U.S. Supreme Court's Wednesday decision in Louisiana v. Callais is vindication for decades of misinformed attacks by various federal courts against Alabama's congressional and legislative maps.
"Yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision has breathed new life into our state’s fundamental right to draw its own congressional and legislative maps," said Robertson. "For decades, we’ve been kicked around by federal courts. Even in our most recent trip to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Chief Justice portrayed Alabama as a place that hadn’t evolved over the last 60 years. Yesterday’s decision specifically rejected that view of the Deep South. In short, all of our arguments were right."
Robertson, a GOP candidate for attorney general, stressed the importance of swiftly redrawing Alabama's districts following the bench's landmark verdict.
"So what happens now? Alabama must move with haste to adopt maps that are colorblind and that will inevitably produce more Republican seats," she explained. "Even more importantly, we will have districts drawn by Alabamians for Alabamians where we don’t reduce people in the same communities to their skin color."
Robertson argued places like Mobile and Montgomery should not be "divided by race," as it doesn't reflect local community dynamics.
"If you visit Mobile, it takes about 10 minutes to realize that the city does not see itself as divided by race, and it is abhorrent that a federal court didn’t take them at their word," stated Robertson. "No more. Mobile deserves a district that reflects the common interests of the people who live there, and I believe they’ll get it. We will also have a chance to get my friend, Sen. Will Barfoot’s district back so that Montgomery can continue to be represented by a man that is passionate about his city and brings conservative values to the table where they’re lacking at the city level. This is extremely important for our state, too, and is within reach."
She added, "The Callais decision is a strong first step in what I see as Alabama’s path to independence from the federal judiciary’s decades-long heavy-handedness in our elections, which will inevitably lead to removing the federal judiciary’s stronghold over our public schools. Now let’s get to work."
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