Alabama AG Steve Marshall seeks Supreme Court redistricting relief

Alabama’s top law enforcement official filed a Supreme Court challenge seeking to overturn an earlier ruling that limited Republicans in decennial redistricting, after a recent case in Louisiana raised questions about how the court previously ruled.

Louisiana’s “Callais” decision wiped out the state’s map, including districts centered on New Orleans and a narrow majority-minority corridor from Baton Rouge. Alabama leaders said the ruling conflicts with or challenges Supreme Court precedent affecting their state in requiring racial factors to be considered when drawing congressional districts.

“Now they have a framework for Alabama to directly defend what the Legislature did in 2021 and 2023,” said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, telling Fox News Digital he was “thrilled” to see where the court ruled on “Callais” in late April.

“And that is, drawing maps based on historical principles of redistricting that, I think Callais now makes clear, were constitutional exercises of that authority,” Marshall said, emphasizing SCOTUS’s analysis that race should not predominate when drawing congressional districts.

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“And unlike Louisiana, which was able to obtain direct relief through this ruling, we must now be removed from the injunction. [against Alabama’s prior map] by the panel of three judges in order to either revert to the contested map or give the legislature the power to draw a new map.

A previous Supreme Court decision, Allen v. Milligan, struck down Alabama’s earlier redistricting efforts, with critics saying the decision improperly weighted racial factors in creating what became a Democratic-favored second district in the ruby-red state.

If Alabama manages to break free of Milligan’s rule, it could have national implications for Democrats’ attempts to gain enough seats in the Republican-majority U.S. House of Representatives this fall, as Montgomery’s so-called Livingston map, initially struck down in the 2023 case, would see new life.

Marshall, who is also running to succeed retiring Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., this fall, said the urgency in court is important as the May 19 primary approaches.

“Because the lower court’s injunction cannot accommodate the Supreme Court’s decision, we have asked the court to lift the injunction. Alabama deserves the right to use its own maps, like every other state.”

The AG said he is working separately from state lawmakers, who are in special session through Friday to address the legislative side of the fight, and that his office is “singularly focused” on obtaining legal relief from the Supreme Court.

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He also said that when it comes to race, the Alabama of the 2020s is not the Alabama of the 1960s and that there are few, if any, barriers to minority voting in the Yellowhammer State.

“You saw some of that sentiment from Justice Kavanaugh during a settlement [Milligan] case that Alabama had a few years ago, saying there’s a point where we have to recognize that circumstances have changed,” he said, while the previous case forced Alabama to draw a second district where black voters have a meaningful opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.

Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott and William Byron lead the field at the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, one of the state’s top attractions. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

For Democratic critics like New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who descended on Alabama to fight back — as he did at an anti-redistricting forum in Birmingham with the city’s Mayor Randall Woodfin and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Jones — Marshall suggested they get their own house in order up north.

“[They’re] In arguing for proportional representation, which is essentially what they’re saying, they’re making the same argument in Maine, in Rhode Island, in New Hampshire – where you don’t see a single member of Congress from the Republican Party.

Pointing out that New England states have large blocs of “unaffiliated” or independent voters, gerrymander critics often point the finger at the region because those who are Republicans have essentially no voice in Washington.

Maine is considered the most moderate state, with an estimated Republican bloc of around 30%, while Vermont’s more vague registration system gave President Donald Trump roughly the same percentage of votes in 2024.

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Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts all have between 10 and 40 percent Republican vote share, implying that a bloc of the “unaffiliated” group sometimes votes for Republican candidates. These states have more than 40% of their residents registered as unaffiliated or similar.

Fox News Digital contacted Booker earlier this week with similar criticism, but did not receive a response.

Marshall said his work was not necessarily in alignment with that of the Legislature, but that both were on the same path.

“While we will obviously monitor what the legislature does, our job is to get help from the [2023 redistricting] injunction as quickly as possible. »

“And the other thing, not only are we working on the state congressional map, but we also have a state senate district. [map] likewise, this has been subject to a redesign based on a [Voting Rights Act] Section 2 challenge,” he said.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Al Drago/Getty Images)

His office is also involved with the New Orleans-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in challenging the state’s senatorial map while seeking Supreme Court review on the congressional front.

As Marshall spoke to Fox News Digital before the Virginia Supreme Court overturned the Democratic-led redistricting map, he called Richmond’s decision “clearly.” [done] for hyperpolitical reasons that kept none of the traditional principles in mind. »

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Alabama’s redistricting efforts aimed to follow the letter and spirit of the law, and the attorney general said he hoped to have a real chance of winning favorable relief from the nation’s highest court and remedying a fight the Yellowhammer State previously lost.

Secretary of State Wes Allen has indicated that the May 19 primary will proceed as scheduled, meaning Marshall’s motions could come just in time to give Republicans another added advantage in a nationally relevant election landscape.