Overview
Allen v. Milligan (U.S. Supreme Court, June 8, 2023): In Allen v. Milligan, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Alabama’s congressional map was inherently discriminatory against minority voters in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Read the full Opinion here.
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits voting practices that deny or abridge the right of U.S. citizens to vote on account of race and has been found to apply to vote dilution based on race. Alabama’s congressional redistricting resulted in only 1 in 7 majority-Black districts despite that Black people comprise 27% of the voting-age population. Black Alabamans challenged the redistricting as a violation of Section 2, arguing that the redistricting dilutes the voting power of the state’s Black population, limiting Black voters’ ability to elect their preferred candidates. The Court agreed, rejecting Alabama’s challenge to the constitutionality of Section 2. Alabama also argued that a race-neutral redistricting process is all that is required. Rejecting this argument, the Court reaffirmed its precedent that “a district is not equally open when minority voters face—unlike their majority peers—bloc voting along racial lines, arising against the backdrop of substantial racial discrimination within the State.” Because the Court had not issued an interim order before the election, the 2022 congressional election in Alabama used the unconstitutional redistricting. Read the full Opinion here.
View all cases in Judicial Trends and Public Health – August 15, 2023
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