On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter announced that he had appointed a number of House members to serve on the Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment.
The House members appointed are:
Cynthia Almond (R-Tuscaloosa)
Barbara Boyd (D-Anniston)
Jim Carns (R-Birmingham)
Steve Clouse (R-Ozark)
Corley Ellis (R-Columbiana)
Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa)
Laura Hall (D-Huntsville)
Sam Jones (D-Mobile)
Joe Lovvorn (R-Auburn)
Chris Pringle (R-Mobile)
Rex Reynolds (R-Huntsville).
Since this is a joint committee, it is also made up of members of the Senate.
The appointment of 11 members from the House would indicate an expansion of the committee. According to the committee website, the joint committee has just six members: Sens. Steve Livingston, Dan Roberts, and Bobby Singleton, and Reps. Kyle South, Laura Hall, and Chris Pringle. South is leaving the Legislature at the end of the month to accept a position as President and CEO of the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce. Presumably, the Senate will now appoint another eight joint committee members.
The Joint Committee on Reapportionment normally redistricts the congressional districts, the state board of education districts, and legislative districts every ten years following the decennial census. In 2022 a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Alabama’s 2021 congressional redistricting as being in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Alabama appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which earlier this month found that the lower court was correct in its interpretation and has restored the lower court’s ruling that the state is in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
The three-judge panel has given the Legislature until the middle of next month to submit a new congressional redistricting of the state to the federal court. The three-judge panel has ordered the Legislature to submit a new map where there are two majority-minority districts or something as close to that as possible.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey is expected to call a special session no later than July 17 to attempt to comply with the court order.
If the Legislature cannot reach an agreement on a redistricting plan by July 21 or the Court does not like the State’s plan, then the three-judge panel may appoint a special master who will draw the districts for the state.
Republicans currently control six of Alabama’s congressional seats, while Democrats control only the Seventh Congressional District. None of the seven congressional races were competitive in the general election last year. The redistricting could make two of those districts winnable for Alabama Democrats.
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