Eric Holder Statement on Federal Court Ordering Alabama to Maintain a Voting Rights Act-Compliant Congressional Map

For Immediate Release
May 8, 2025
Contact
Madia Coleman
coleman@redistrictingfoundation.org

Washington, D.C. – Today, Eric H. Holder, Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States, issued the following statement on an Alabama trial court’s decision in Caster v. Allen, reaffirming that under the Voting Rights Act (VRA), Alabama must have two Black opportunity districts:

“This is a good day for democracy. The generations of Black Alabamians who fought to achieve equal representation had their sacrifice and commitment recognized today. Because of their tenacity and hard work, Black Alabamians will continue to vote on a fair congressional map that gives them their legally mandated voting power and allows them to elect a candidate of their choice in two districts. 

“The relentless efforts of some in Alabama to deny black state citizens the rights they deserve and force them to vote on a racially discriminatory map are truly shameful—but their failure is also instructive. The court has made clear that the anti-democracy forces attempting to reverse new, more fair Voting Rights Act-compliant maps in other states will not succeed in taking this nation backwards.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

In Alabama, Black voters make up 27% of the voting age population. Yet, in 2021, the state of Alabama enacted a congressional map that included just one Black opportunity district out of the state’s seven total congressional districts. In other words, despite the fact that they made up 27% of Alabama’s voting age population, on the state’s 2021 gerrymandered congressional map, Black Alabamians only had the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice in 14% of the congressional delegation.

That year, the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF) filed the first legal challenge against the state of Alabama’s gerrymandered map, providing financial support for and directing the litigation on behalf of the Caster plaintiff group. That lawsuit ultimately made its way before the U.S. Supreme Court in Allen v. Milligan. The Supreme Court’s landmark 2023 decision in that case upheld Section 2 of the VRA and determined that Alabama’s 2021 congressional map likely violated that law. Following that decision, the federal district court ordered Alabama to draw a new map that complies with the VRA—a map that includes two Black opportunity districts. Yet, in defiance of the Supreme Court’s decision and the district court’s order, the Alabama Legislature again drew a map that included just one Black opportunity district. The NRF-supported voters then challenged the Alabama Legislature’s newly proposed gerrymander in court, which the court also rejected, ultimately leading to the court adopting Alabama’s current VRA-compliant map, which gave Black voters the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice in two congressional districts for the 2024 election.

Notwithstanding the U.S. Supreme Court’s affirmation of the NRF’s victory on behalf of Black voters in Allen v. Milligan, the state of Alabama continued to fight enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. This past February, the case went to trial before the same judicial panel that had ruled in our favor in 2022, with testimony from the NRF-supported plaintiffs and expert witnesses asking the court to issue a final determination in their favor. Today’s decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District confirms that Alabama’s congressional map must have two Black opportunity districts for the remainder of the decade. To learn more about the NRF’s work, click here.  

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