US House Redistricting: Alabama

[minionofmidas]

Raising it to that high might be problematic in court, seeing as the district is "so extremely irregular on its face that it rationally can be viewed only as an effort to segregate the races for purposes of voting, without regard for traditional districting principles".

[minionofmidas]

Raising it to that high might be problematic in court, seeing as the district is "so extremely irregular on its face that it rationally can be viewed only as an effort to segregate the races for purposes of voting, without regard for traditional districting principles".

What is untraditional about a map like that in Alabama?

I didn't say it's untraditional. Justice Kennedy says it's unconstitutional if he can be bothered on that particular day. (Actually the words are Sandra Day O'Connor's.) The current AL-7 unites urban Birmingham with the western half of the Black Belt. That's necessary to create a certainly Black seat even though the percentage is well in excess... cause if you swap out the rural parts for an equally sized part of lily white suburbia from Bachus' seat, you're on highly polarized bellwether territory. It also includes Tuscaloosa because it was in the way, even though it's 60odd% White. The eastern half of the Black Belt is instead divided between two usually Republican seats, and one of those fell in 2008 and wouldn't have if it didn't include some Black influence. (There aren't enough Blacks for a second Black seat without some really "extremely irregular" mapmaking, so let's ignore that option.)
Any attempt to further pack the seventh will end up in court. A well-done one like krazen's second will be upheld there. A seriously overstretching one like his first might or might not be, and it's just not a risk worth taking.

[minionofmidas]

These districts are not genuine communities of interest, and the population is still below exactly 2/7th. You might have a chance forcing it if the Black population were over 2/7th, or if your seventh seat were entirely in the Birmingham metro or at very maximum extended only to Tuscaloosa. As is though, nigh on zero.

[minionofmidas]

Whites are not a protected minority. We're dealing with case law about a minimum number that must be drawn unless it would look totally ridiculous and throw together areas that absolutely don't belong together (which two Black seats in Alabama wouldn't... but two Black seats in South Carolina would... though really it would only look ridiculous... South Carolina, of course, having right about Black population for 2.0 seats, and looking the more winnable case).

[minionofmidas]

Yeah, I understood that adding Montgomery would not be deemed packing when I noticed it was done in the 90s too...

[minionofmidas]

Does anyone think the Justice Department will approve these maps? 

Based on the softball approach to redistricting that the DoJ has taken so far, probably so.

1) First of all, the DoJ has played hardball witness Texas. Since the other maps have complied with the VRA, there has been no basis for an objection.

2) Any serious attempt to play hardball is apt to be meet with a giant judicial bitchslap from the Supreme Court that would not only overrule the DOJ in that case, but might strike down the VRA itself. Notice how the DoJ slinked away in Kingston NC, I think it was.

They could have drawn additional VRA seats in SC, LA and possibly AL.

TX chose to go to the DC circuit while the others went through DOJ first. It sure looks like DOJ thought retaining its position as the first choice for states was more important than seeing minorities get a chance to be represented proportionally to their numbers.

And the fear of Section Whatever (I have no memory for names of things like that) being struck played a large role in that.

But Texas went that route because a) they're morons b) soft enough a ball to okay their first map attempt hasn't been invented yet.