Staff Reports
In a surprising turn of events, the Supreme Court upheld a portion of the Voting Rights Act that the Republican-controlled Alabama legislature had been fighting against. But don’t worry, the Alabama legislature isn’t giving up that easily. According to AL.com, reports suggest that they have deliberately defied the court’s ruling in hopes of swaying Justice Brett Kavanaugh to change his stance on the matter. And why not? After all, Kavanaugh has a history of being easily influenced by Chief Justice John Roberts.
It turns out Kavanaugh was initially prepared to side with the other conservative jurists on the Supreme Court in favor of Alabama’s redistricting map. However, Chief Justice Roberts got in his ear and convinced him to switch sides. Surprise, surprise. It seems the two have had a close friendship dating back to their days in the George H.W. Bush administration. I guess old allegiances die hard.
But Alabama Republicans aren’t ready to throw in the towel. They believe Kavanaugh can be convinced to change his position once again if they present the right arguments. According to the Alabama Political Reporter, they even based their redistricting map on supposed “intelligence” that Kavanaugh was open to rehearing the case. It’s all part of their master plan to make the Court reconsider the merits of Alabama’s arguments.
You see, Alabama Republicans think the Court didn’t fully explore all the merits of their case the first time around. They claim that the Court was too focused on the issue of a stay imposed by a lower court, rather than considering the supposed race-neutral nature of their redistricting map. So, their cunning strategy involves deliberately defying the Court’s decision and going for a second round in front of Kavanaugh and his colleagues.
In July, they held a special legislative session to redraw the map, but it still only included one black-majority district. Not a big improvement, to say the least. Unsurprisingly, a district court panel rejected the new map as likely being in violation of the Voting Rights Act. But fear not, Alabama Republicans got what they wanted. This rejection sets the stage for an appeal to the Supreme Court and another chance to convince a majority of the justices that race shouldn’t be a priority when drawing district lines.
And who will be at the center of this second showdown? You guessed it, Justice Kavanaugh. It remains to be seen if he can resist the influence of Chief Justice Roberts and finally make the racially neutral decision that Alabama Republicans are so desperately hoping for. Will he prioritize the racial demographics of congressional districts or will he prioritize the integrity of the redistricting process? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure, this saga is far from over.
