Chief Justice Roberts, who previously sought to weaken the Voting Rights Act, upheld its key provisions in a 5-4 decision. The ruling is a major victory for civil rights groups and could have implications for redistricting plans in other states.
In January 2022, a three-judge panel of the federal district court found that Alabama’s map probably violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars voting practices that deny or abridge the right to vote on account of race. The court ordered the state to draw a second Black majority or plurality district.
The majority affirmed the district court’s ruling after deciding that the lower court correctly applied the three-part test set forth in the 1986 case ofFirst, the plaintiffs must show that enough Black voters live in a sufficiently “compact” area to make up a majority of a district. Second, they need to demonstrate that the voters are “politically cohesive” — that is, they tend to vote for the same candidates.
The Supreme Court adopted the district court’s findings that “elections in Alabama were racially polarized,” that “Black Alabamians enjoy virtually zero success in statewide elections,” and that “Alabama’s extensive history of repugnant racial and voting-related discrimination is undeniable and well documented.”Roberts began his opinion as follows:
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