Supreme Court Bans Race-Based Gerrymandering

0:00It's April 30th. You're listening to Birmingham News today, AI-powered local news. I'm Cory with the story. The Supreme Court just dropped a 6-3 ruling in Louisiana, V. Calais, that's shaking up how states draw congressional maps. In a big win against race-based gerrymandering, the Court said Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the 14th and 15th Amendments don't. Let states use race as a factor in district lines. This could mean redrawn maps across the South and beyond. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall jumped on it right away, calling it a game changer that stops forcing states to gerrymandered by race. He pointed out, the South has come a long way and old laws don't fit today's reality. Marshall made it clear Alabama has been battling this for years, arguing maps should reflect voter will, not racial quotas. Meanwhile, Louisiana's case showed they use race neutral rules, like protecting incumbents for partisan reasons. Folks sued them after the 2020 redistricting, just like in Alabama, where a federal court

1:02said they needed an extra majority, black district, that led to a court-drawn map in Alabama last year, and the state took it to the Supreme Court, with those cases still pending. Marshall says they'll move fast to update Alabama's maps, based on this new ruling. Bottom line, this decision pushes districts toward fairness with our racial lines and Alabama's ready to redraw pronto to match what voters really want. Stay tuned as these map fights heat up nationwide.