Dem
51
GOP
49
Well, this was an entirely foreseeable outcome. Just over a month ago, here is what we wrote about the wrangling over Alabama's congressional district maps:
The recent Supreme Court decision that the Alabama House map was unconstitutionally gerrymandered to make sure Black voters could not elect two Black representatives (out of 7), even though 27% of the voters are Black, has given the Democrats hope. The Alabama state legislature wiped its collective rear end with the Court decision and drew another map that has one Black district. The resulting lawsuit is now in court and it seems likely that the result will be a new map with two majority-Black districts drawn by a court-appointed special master.
We wrote very similar things a couple of times in July, and a couple more times in August.
This is not meant to be a demonstration of our brilliance—after all, that is already self-evident. No, it's meant to point out that it was painfully obvious where this was headed. And yesterday, it got there. The same three-judge panel that's been overseeing this matter, and that includes two Donald Trump appointees, unanimously voted to strike down racist map v2.0. Since the Alabama legislature doesn't want to play nice, the Court further ordered that a special master draw up three maps for its inspection. The final map will be chosen from those three.
So, you can pretty much put a +1 in the Democratic House column in 2024, as the Alabama delegation will go from 6R, 1D to 5R, 2D. And there may be something poetic about the fact that the decision was handed down in the Black Federal Courthouse. Especially since the Black in question (Hugo L.) went from being a member of the KKK to being an ardent opponent of segregation and discrimination. (Z)