- ScotusBlog: Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama.
- ScotusBlog: Alabama Democratic Conference v. Alabama.
- Oyez Project: Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama.
The court ruled - by a 5-4 vote - that the state was guilty of racial gerrymandering - more specifically a tactic known as packing. By successfully packing members of a group in a small number of districts, then the voting strength of that group is minimized. If that group happens to be a racial group - especially a racial minority - that violates both the 14th and 15th Amendments as well as the Voting Rights Act. The problem is that proving racial gerrymandering can be difficult to do. The court's majority ruled that racial gerrymandering should be considered on a district by district method - taking each individually - rather than statewide, which is what a lower court had ruled.
For analysis from smarter people than me:
- Supreme Court sends Alabama redistricting plan back to lower court.
- Opinion analysis: A small victory for minority voters, or a case with “profound” constitutional implications?
For students who are focusing on this case, you may wish to consider the following topics, even if you aren't writing about this case, you should be familiar with the following as they arise in different contexts in both 2305 and 2306.
- Gerrymandering: An attempt to draw an electoral district for political advantage.
- Racial Gerrymandering: An attempt to draw electoral districts to impact - favorably or negatively - the strength of a racial group. This is unconstitutional since race is a suspect classification under the equal protection clause. Since parties are not a protected classification, partisan gerrymandering is not illegal, but since party identification increasingly varies based on race, it can be difficult to distinguish between the two.
- Packing and Cracking: These are the names of two gerrymandering techniques. Packing refers to when members of a group are packed into a small number of districts so that their competitiveness elsewhere is minimized. Cracking refers to when the members are spread out to a number of districts so that the group is not a majority in any district.
- 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause: Added to the Constitution after the Civil War, clause prevented states from treating persons in their jurisdiction unequally, though it does not define "equality."
- 15th Amendment: For the first time - again just after the Civil War - the Constitution negated the ability of states to deny the right to vote to people on the basis of race, among other things.
- Reynolds v Sims: The 1964 Supreme Court case that mandated that state legislative districts had to be roughly equal in population.
- Voting Rights Act: An act Congress passed in 1965 to strengthen the voting rights of minority groups primarily in the South by outlawing tactics that had minimized their ability to vote, as well as the impact of their votes. It also established agencies that could enforce the law. It also mandated that states with a history of racial discrimination had to have changes in their elections, as well as districts, pre-cleared by a panel of federal judges or the Justice Department.
- Shelby County v Holder: A 2013 Supreme Court case which limited the Voting Rights Act by arguing that throwing out the map that had been used to determine which states were subject to pre-clearance.
