Trump-Appointed Judges Strike Down Alabama’s Congressional Map For Intentionally Diluting Power Of Black Voters

Trump-Appointed Judges Strike Down Alabama’s Congressional Map For Intentionally Diluting Power Of Black Voters

A federal court panel, including two Donald Trump appointees, struck down Alabama’s 2023 congressional map, calling it “a deliberate decision to double down on the dilution of Black Alabamians’ votes.”

The unanimous ruling found the map violated both the Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment. “Try as we might,” the judges wrote, “we cannot understand the 2023 Plan as anything other than an intentional effort” to undermine Black voting power.

After earlier court orders invalidated a prior map, Alabama enacted a new one again lacking two majority Black districts. The judges slammed the legislature’s defiance: “It is difficult to understand… anything other than a deliberate decision.” They warned Alabama’s repeated actions were “intolerable in our system of ordered liberty.”

The court rejected the state’s claim that private citizens couldn’t sue under the VRA, calling the argument disruptive. “We wish it had not [turned out this way], but we have eyes to see.”

Are you surprised by this outcome?