Last week, Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-AL07), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chairman Steven Horsford (NV-04), and members of the Congressional Black Caucus commented on their amicus brief filed by the CBC in the Northern District of Alabama.
The CBC is upset that the Alabama Legislature failed to submit a new congressional map with two majority Black districts in July’s special session, so they have filed the amicus brief supporting Milligan and the other parties challenging the state’s congressional redistricting.
“In defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Allen v. Milligan, the Republican-controlled Alabama State Legislature has yet to redraw its congressional district map to include a second majority Black district—falling far beneath the goal set by the highest court in the land,” the CBC members said in a statement. “Instead of creating a second district where Black voters would have an opportunity to elect a Black-preferred candidate in compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the Alabama State Legislature chose to again put forth a map that robs Black voters of their fundamental rights at the ballot box.”
“Therefore, the Congressional Black Caucus filed an amicus brief in the United States District Court in the Northern District of Alabama objecting to the newly enacted congressional district map because we will not stand by and allow improper, racially discriminatory maps to stand without challenge,” the CBC Congressmembers concluded.
Horsford came to Birmingham on Friday for a Congressional Black Caucus Institute (CBCI) event, the same day that former President Donald Trump came to Alabama. The CBCI hosted a mobilizer training session to educate participants on effective community mobilization, grassroots efforts, and impactful communication techniques to drive social change.
Following the training, Sewell and Horsford hosted a panel discussion with Miles College President Bobbie Knight, Lawson State Community College President Cynthia Anthony, Interim Special Assistant to the President for Strategic Planning and Initiatives at Alabama A&M University Jackie Robinson, III, Community Activist Dee Reed, and Birmingham Urban League President and CEO William Barnes. The conversation was moderated by journalist Roland Martin and focused on pressing issues of democracy and racial equity, including attacks on Black history, the erosion of affirmative action, the state of voting rights, and the critical role of HBCUs in shaping our path forward.
The Congressional Black Caucus claims that having only one majority Black district in Alabama – where 27% of the voting population is Black – violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The three-judge panel in Atlanta will hear both party’s cases later this month. It is likely that whichever side loses at the Eleventh Court of Appeals will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the case. Many national pundits and legal scholars have to this point, questioned the Republican-controlled State Legislature’s congressional map.
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