ICYMI: NRF Calls on Federal Court to Protect Alabama’s Voting Rights Act-Compliant Map

For Immediate Release
February 10, 2025
Contact
Madia Coleman
coleman@redistrictingfoundation.org

Washington, D.C. – Today, a two-week trial began before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in Caster v. Allen, a redistricting lawsuit that will determine the fate of Alabama’s congressional map. 

Ahead of the trial, the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF) hosted a press call where the organization’s executive director, Marina Jenkins, called on the district court to reject the state’s attempts to re-install a gerrymandered map that includes just one Black opportunity district. On the call, Jenkins said that the court should make Alabama’s current, Voting Rights Act (VRA)-compliant map permanent for the rest of the decade. That map, which was adopted by the lower federal court following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Allen v. Milligan, includes two Black opportunity districts.

The NRF is providing financial support and directing litigation on behalf of the Caster plaintiff group in this case.

Excerpts from remarks as delivered by Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the NRF:

“This is a clear-cut case and it should be an easy decision for the court. Both the U.S. Supreme Court and the district court have already agreed that a textbook application of Section 2 requires a map with two Black opportunity districts in Alabama.”

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“This case isn’t just about a congressional map. It’s about representation and living up to the fundamental ideal that should guide our democracy: That every individual has the right to exercise self-determination at the ballot box.”

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“The long-term effects of depriving a community of a seat at the table can be seen in disparities in multiple aspects of life such as high poverty rates, low median household incomes, high infant mortality rates, and lack of access to city services.”

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“The baseless arguments presented by the state of Alabama in this case are not unique to just this one state, we are seeing these same arguments in cases in Georgia and Louisiana, where these states are seeking to overturn newly enacted fair maps and deprive Black voters of their rightful and hard-fought representation.”

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 NRF initiated a legal challenge against the state of Alabama’s gerrymandered map, which ultimately made its way before the U.S. Supreme Court in Allen v. Milligan. The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2023 decision in that case upheld Section 2 of the VRA and determined that Alabama’s 2021 congressional map violated that law. A lower federal court then ordered the state of 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 lower federal 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 rejected, ultimately leading to the court adopting Alabama’s current map, which gives Black voters the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice in two congressional districts. 

Now, the NRF-supported voters in Caster v. Allen are calling for the court to make Alabama’s current, fair map permanent and to again reject the Alabama Legislature’s efforts to gerrymander. The decision in this case will determine whether or not Alabama has a fair congressional map for the rest of the decade. To learn more about the NRF’s work, click here. 

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