By many observers' standards, this week's federal court hearing on newly drawn congressional maps did not go well for the Alabama Legislature.
However, the real prize for legislature may come from the U.S. Supreme Court, according to State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville).
During an appearance on Huntsville radio WVNN's "The Dale Jackson Show" on Thursday, Givhan said he predicted an eventual 5-4 ruling for Alabama, which could keep the legislature's current congressional maps in place.
"[T]his litigation — eventually, it will kind of come to a stop," he said. "You know, a lot of the issues have kind of been resolved, and they have been much to do about the North Carolina decision. Well, the North Carolina decision was really mooted before it even came up there. And basically, it just said state courts have a say-so under the state constitution, which that makes sense. You know, the North Carolina legislature was trying to come up with an independent legislature theory that they could do whatever they wanted to, and that was smacked down. But I don't think that's been a big issue."
"What people lose their focus on – and it was odd how the opinion was drafted but it wasn't like this was a mandate coming down from the Supreme Court," Givhan continued. "It was a 4-4-1 decision. Four people, four justices, were for throwing the whole thing out and saying Alabama wins. Four justices were saying, no, Alabama loses. And Kavanaugh signed off on a portion of it, saying the Gingles test is still good law, but he didn't sign off on the entire opinion. And so, this is not like this mandate coming from the Supreme Court. It is still status quo. It has still got to be decided. And eventually, there's going to be, in my judgment, a 5-4 vote, and it is going to be in Alabama's favor."
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 jeff.poor@1819News.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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