Latest news with #BlackAlabamians
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Court rules Alabama congressional map intentionally discriminated against Black voters
Federal judges ruled Thursday that Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black residents when the state disobeyed court orders to draw a second Black-majority congressional district. A three-judge panel said the congressional map drawn by the 2023 Alabama Legislature violated the Voting Rights Act. The judges, which ruled against the state twice before and put a new map in place for last year's elections, have permanently blocked Alabama from using the state-drawn map. The judges said the court does not 'diminish the substantial improvements Alabama has made in its official treatment of Black Alabamians in recent decades. 'Yet we cannot reconcile the State's intentional decision to discriminate in drawing its congressional districts with its position that Alabama has finally closed out its repugnant history of official discrimination involving voting rights,' they added. The court will now consider whether to place Alabama under Provision 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which would require the state to get federal approval of its congressional plans. Following the 2020 census, Alabama made six of its seven districts majority white, despite 27 percent of the state's population being Black. Though the Supreme Court allowed the map to be used in the 2022 midterms, it also upheld the lower court's findings that the map unlawfully diluted Black votes. Despite the rulings, the state Legislature refused to redraw the map to include a second congressional district that would allow Black voters to elect the candidate of their choice. 'This record thus leaves us in no doubt that the purpose of the design of the 2023 Plan was to crack Black voters across congressional districts in a manner that makes it impossible to create two districts in which they have an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, and thereby intentionally perpetuate the discriminatory effects of the 2021 Plan,' the judges said Thursday. 'The Legislature knew what federal law required and purposefully refused to provide it, in a strategic attempt to checkmate the injunction that ordered it,' they wrote. Plaintiffs in the case told The Associated Press that the ruling is 'a testament to the dedication and persistence of many generations of Black Alabamians who pursued political equality at great cost.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
09-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Court rules Alabama congressional map intentionally discriminated against Black voters
Federal judges ruled Thursday that Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black residents when the state disobeyed court orders to draw a second Black-majority congressional district. A three-judge panel said the congressional map drawn by the 2023 Alabama legislature violated the Voting Rights Act. The judges, which ruled against the state twice before and put a new map in place for last year's elections, have permanently blocked Alabama from using the state-drawn map. The judges said the court does not 'diminish the substantial improvements Alabama has made in its official treatment of Black Alabamians in recent decades. 'Yet we cannot reconcile the State's intentional decision to discriminate in drawing its congressional districts with its position that Alabama has finally closed out its repugnant history of official discrimination involving voting rights,' they added. The court will now consider whether to place Alabama under Provision 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which would require the state to get federal approval of its congressional plans. Following the 2020 census, Alabama made six of its seven districts majority white, despite 27 percent of the state's population is Black. Though the Supreme Court allowed the map to be used in the 2022 midterms, it also upheld the lower courts findings that the map unlawfully diluted Black votes. Despite the rulings, the state legislature refused to redraw the map to include a second congressional district that would allow Black voters to elect the candidate of their choice. 'This record thus leaves us in no doubt that the purpose of the design of the 2023 Plan was to crack Black voters across congressional districts in a manner that makes it impossible to create two districts in which they have an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, and thereby intentionally perpetuate the discriminatory effects of the 2021 Plan,' the judges said Thursday. 'The Legislature knew what federal law required and purposefully refused to provide it, in a strategic attempt to checkmate the injunction that ordered it,' they wrote. Plaintiffs in the case told the Associated Press the ruling is 'a testament to the dedication and persistence of many generations of Black Alabamians who pursued political equality at great cost.'
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Redrawn Alabama electoral map intentionally discriminatory, court rules
By Nate Raymond (Reuters) -A federal court ruled on Thursday that Alabama's Republican-led legislature intentionally discriminated against Black voters when it approved a new electoral map in 2023 that only had one majority-Black congressional district. In a 571-page ruling, a three-judge panel sharply criticized state lawmakers for drawing up a congressional map that mirrored one from 2021 that the judges and the U.S. Supreme Court had already concluded diluted the voting power of Black Alabamians in violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Rather than comply with a court order that the state craft a new map that include at least two majority-Black districts, the panel said the legislature "simply doubled down – it passed another map with only one Black-opportunity district." The panel, which included two judges appointed by Republican President Donald Trump, said it was unaware of a state legislature ever having responded to a court order in litigation over electoral maps in such a way. "The Legislature knew what federal law required and purposefully refused to provide it, in a strategic attempt to checkmate the injunction that ordered it," the panel wrote. The judges had previously issued a preliminary injunction blocking Alabama from using that new map defining the boundaries of its seven U.S. House of Representatives districts and subsequently required the state to use a court-approved map that had two Black-majority districts in the 2024 election. Voters subsequently for the first time in the state's history picked two Black representatives by re-electing Representative Terri Sewell and voting into office Representative Shomari Figures. Both are Democrats. Lawyers for Black voters and advocacy groups who challenged Alabama's map then asked to block the state's map from being used for the rest of the decade. U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton, and U.S. District Judges Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer, agreed to do so, saying the map not only still violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act but also the U.S. Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment. Deuel Ross, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the Legal Defense Fund, in a statement said the ruling "reaffirms the rule of law and the importance of protecting the fundamental right to vote of Black Alabamians in the Black belt and all Americans." A spokesperson for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, said his office is reviewing the order, adding that "all options remain on the table."
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Yahoo
Report: At least 277 people died in Alabama prisons in 2024
A pair of handcuffs poking through prison bars. A report from the ACLU of Alabama released Wednesday estimated that at least 277 people died in Alabama prisons in 2024, but said the number could be higher. (File/Getty) A report published Wednesday by the ACLU of Alabama estimated at least 277 people died in Alabama prisons last year. That number matches the figure provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections and is lower than the 325 deaths tabulated by Alabama Appleseed in 2023, but the number of deaths has yet to meaningfully decline in the past few years despite efforts by the ADOC to secure the population and prevent corrections officers from transporting contraband into the facilities. 'It is high,' said Eddie Burkhalter, a researcher for Alabama Appleseed, a nonprofit that advocates for criminal justice reform. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A message was sent to the Alabama Department of Corrections on Wednesday seeking comment. The ACLU said in the report that the number is likely higher because the ADOC has failed to maintain accurate records. 'While the raw number was larger (325) in fiscal year 2023, we are not seeing dramatic improvements by any means in Alabama's prisons,' said Alison Mollman in an interview Wednesday, interim legal director of the ACLU of Alabama. The report said the largest number of deaths (46) were the result of accidental deaths or overdoses. The report cites corrections officers as a contributing factor for the number of deaths, particularly the deaths of overdose. 'In 2019, ADOC's own staff members reported to the DOJ that 'without a doubt' the number one way contraband is getting into prisons is by staff smuggling it in,' the report states, adding that the problem remains despite 'continued notice of the central role staff play in trafficking drugs into ADOC facilities.' The overdose number will likely be revised upward because 105 people died in prison whose cause is unknown, or the cases are still under investigation. 'It is really overdoses that are driving these death numbers,' said Burkhalter, who researches prison deaths. 'Drugs continue to come in the prisons, largely in part because of officers who bring them in and staff who bring them in.' Another 77 people died because of natural causes, though the specific causes are not known. The report estimated that there were at least 36 deaths in Kilby Correctional Facility In Montgomery; 35 deaths at St. Clair Correctional Facility in Saint Clair County; 34 deaths at Limestone Correctional Facility in Limestone County and 26 deaths at Bullock Correctional Facility in Union Springs. The four combined accounted for nearly half of all the deaths (47%) that occurred in 2024. ACLU also cited racial disparities in the report. While 26% of the population in Alabama is Black, Black Alabamians comprise almost 60% of the state's prison population and account for an equal number of the deaths that happened in 2024. 'Alabama's prisons are sites of torture,' said Allison Mollman, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama. 'When people are convicted and sentenced to prison, their punishment is to be taken away from their families and communities. But the punishment they experience from the state of Alabama is widespread drug use, constant violence, both at the hands of other prisoners and staff, and widespread misconduct.' People incarcerated in Alabama's prisons continue to face deadly and dangerous conditions more than four years after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit and publicized scathing findings about the conditions in some of the facilities. A team of researchers from both the state and national ACLU offices compiled data from publicly available sources, including news articles and obituaries, as well as state and federal court records and reports by nonprofits and academic papers. They also obtained information by filing records requests with government agencies and taking numbers posted on the Corrections Department's website. The report recommends improved tracking of deaths and study of the factors leading to them. 'To understand and respond to the problem, we have to understand the breadth of the problem, so it is our position that the first step, and an easy step for DOC to take, is to increase the transparency, the frequency, at which it is giving the public information,' Mollman said. Other recommendations include updating the categories that indicate the manner of death, require autopsies for every person who dies while in the Department's custody and provide an annual report on the deaths that happened for the year. Mollman also said the ADOC needs to change the culture within the department by changing the leadership at the warden level. Current practice is that wardens obtain their post by working up the ranks of the department, starting as corrections officers. Other states have hired people as wardens who come from different backgrounds, such as social workers. 'Punishment is where the Department of Corrections is focused on, keeping people in segregation, locking them down in their cells, keeping them in dorms without air conditioning and without supervision,' Mollman said. 'If we can move from a system to focus on rehabilitation truly, that has the programming, has the incentives for incarcerated people to do well, if we have a parole system that responds to that by granting people parole who are doing well in prison, those are the types of things that change culture and improve conditions and reduce levels of violence.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Study: Racial voter turnout gap in Alabama in 2024 was highest in two decades
Voters at Alabama A&M University pass a voting sign after voting at Elmore Gym during Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 in Huntsville, Alabama. A report from the Brennan Center found that the racial voting gap between whites, Black and nonwhites in Alabama widened to its largest level in 20 years. (Eric Schultz for Alabama Reflector) A new study found that voter turnout gaps between white and nonwhite Alabamians hit a two-decade high in 2024. The Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal nonprofit law and public policy institute based in New York, found that turnout among eligible white voters was 65% last year. Among nonwhites, the turnout was 51%. Those two figures respectively are the highest they have been for the past two decades. In 2008 when former President Barack Obama was first on the ballot, about 60% of Black Alabamians eligible to vote cast ballots, compared to 59% of whites. Nonwhites overall had a turnout of about 56%. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX But white turnout in the state has increased since then, peaking at 66% in 2020 before falling back to 65% last year. Black turnout fell to 50% in 2016; bounced back to 58% in 2020 but fell to 51% last year. 'We know that gap has grown, and in 2024, it has taken an almost turbo level increase in its scope,' said Kareem Crayton, vice president of the Washington, DC, office for the Brennan Center. 'It is a very disturbing trend, particularly when we see the level of diversity in this country is far greater than it has been.' The study did not delve deeply into some of the causes, but cited more restrictive voting policies that mostly Republican-led states have imposed since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Shelby County vs. Holder that invalidated Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The law sought to end discriminatory practices in many parts of the South that prevented minorities, but especially Blacks, from voting. Section 5 of the law required states with histories of voter disenfranchisement to submit any changes to voting laws to the U.S. Department of Justice for approval. The court struck down preclearance in Shelby County v. Holder, a 2013 decision out of Shelby County just south of Birmingham. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, said the 'country had changed.' 'We can't say for certain what caused the white–Black turnout gap to widen in Alabama, but the surge in restrictive voting laws since the Shelby County v. Holder decision has likely played a role in depressing turnout among Black voters,' the study states. 'Our research shows that a decade after the ruling gutted the Voting Rights Act, these gaps are growing everywhere, but they are widening especially quickly in places like Alabama that were subject to the 'preclearance condition' that was suspended in Shelby County.' Richard Fording, a professor in the political science department at the University of Alabama, agreed in an interview that voting restrictions could contribute to the gap but that other factors could be at play, including the enthusiasm Obama sparked among Black voters. 'The years 2008 and 2012 were years where we saw unusually high turnout among Black voters, compared to previous years,' he said in an email following an interview. 'The other development that is specific to Alabama is that the state has undergone a significant shift in the balance of partisan control since 2010.' Both Fording and Crayton also said that the lack of competitive elections contributes to the gap and low voter turnout in the state. 'Nobody wants to go to a game where the outcome is already (known), that is the real concern,' Crayton said. In the 2nd Congressional District, the Black eligible population was almost 50%, which gave Democrats the chance to pick up another seat. 'It is not just gerrymandering, it is policies that make it less likely to be able to obtain an ID, to be able to cast a ballot,' Crayton said. 'It is the limited opportunities people have to register; it is the purges. All these things work in a cumulative way that would drag down turnout for voters who may want to participate, but who find the hurdles are too advanced.' The net effect is that the electorate only represents a portion of the total possible number of voters. 'You need to have all people voting in order for democracy to work,' said Kathy Jones, president of the League of Women Voters of Alabama. 'It is so important to hear everyone's voice.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
