Following last week’s contentious special session, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) was hit with racist accusations over a misconstrued comment he made about the state's voting map situation.
Lawmakers advanced two pieces of legislation last week that would compel a special election in specific congressional and State Senate districts should the U.S. Supreme Court remove injunctions currently blocking legislatively drawn maps.
The special session was called after the 6-3 majority ruling in Louisiana v. Callias, in which the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) held that race-based redistricting is unconstitutional. Alabama swiftly reacted, filing motions to have the injunction on the congressional and state senate maps approved by lawmakers lifted.
The 2023 congressional map followed the 2021 initial map, which a federal court blocked, forcing lawmakers to redraw it. Despite the redrawing, a three-judge panel likewise found that the 2023 map likely violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Alabama's state senate map faces a similar injunction, which the state is also challenging.
The session drew predictable accusations of racism against the Republican-led legislature and threats of legal action from the state’s Democrats.
The statement that drew the most ire came as Ledbetter was discussing legislative efforts to reinstate those maps.
"It gives us a chance to look at all of them, if we get some reprieve from the courts, so we'll see how that goes and certainly hope that the Supreme Court will overturn Amendment 14,” Ledbetter said.
He continued a few sentences later, “All we need now is the courts to overturn 14, and we can look at a new election.”
Later, in a press briefing, Ledbetter clarified his statements.
He described the court’s action taken against the state, mistakenly calling Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) “Amendment 2.” He again referred only to “Amendment 14,” citing the injunction against the congressional map, which plaintiffs argued violated the 14th Amendment.
Ledbetter then turned the question over to the congressional map bill’s sponsor, House Pro Tem Chris Pringle (R-Mobile), saying he could “probably speak to it better than me.”
“The court, just like in Louisiana, said [Alabama’s] Section 2 violation rose to a 14th Amendment violation,” Pringle said.
The explanation wasn't good enough for AL(dot)com’s Kyle Whitmire, who managed to turn two short sentences into a nearly 600-word screed against Ledbetter.
Whether Ledbetter's use of the term “14” was verbal shorthand or a plain misstatement, Whitmire painted the slip-up as the spontaneous confession of a man possessed by George Wallace’s pre-enlightenment spirit, despite acknowledging the subsequent clarification in his story.
Other left-wing lawmakers and advocacy organizations accused the Speaker of wanting to remove the rights of blacks in this country, an argument they also made about the legislature in general throughout the special session.
State Rep. Juandalynn Givan (D-Birmingham) shared a picture stating that Ledbetter had called for overturning the 14th Amendment.
Indivisible Mobile, a South Alabama-based offshoot of the national advocacy organization, made the same claim.
Social media was also teeming with accusations, leading Ledbetter to respond himself.
“Alabama’s 2023 congressional map currently has a Section 2 VRA and 14th Amendment violation against it,” Ledbetter said. “I simply stated that we want those violations lifted so we can move forward with our 2023 congressional map, not that the 14th Amendment needs to be removed from the U.S. Constitution. This is a total lie and is refuted by my comments in Friday’s press conference, which are on video for anyone to see. Unfortunately, this blatant attempt to misconstrue my comments, cause division, and attack my character is a perfect example of why people struggle to trust certain media outlets in this day and age.”
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