Allen v. Milligan

Allen, Alabama Secretary of State, et al. v. Milligan et al. is a suit heard in the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the Alabama State Legislature's reapportionment of Congressional districts in Alabama following the 2020 U.S. Census.

The existing Congressional district map, passed as Act of Alabama 2011-518 during the 2011 Alabama legislative session, using data from the 2010 U.S. Census, had already been the subject of legal challenges based on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) and the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In Chestnut v. Merrill, brought on June 13, 2018, it was established that the extended "finger" of the 7th Congressional District of Alabama was created to exclude Black voters in Jefferson County from other, predominantly white districts. Because the state legislature was to redraw the district map prior to the next election, Judge Karon Bowdre ruled on March 17, 2020 that the case was moot.

Another suit, Bobby Singleton, et al. v. John H. Merrill, Alabama Secretary of State (No. 2:21-cv-1291), was filed on September 27, 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama by Bobby Singleton, Rodger Smitherman, Eddie Billingsley, Leonette W. Slay, Darryl Andrews, and Andrew Walker. The plaintiffs noted that an upcoming special session would consider reapportionment and sought an order recognizing that maps that preserved the conditions which made the 2011 map non-compliant would also be non-compliant. They sought the court's support for an alternate "whole county" plan which they argued would comply with the VRA while also restoring the longstanding practice of not splitting counties between districts.

Governor Kay Ivey called for a second special legislative session to begin on October 28, 2021 to modify the state's voting districts. The legislature's Reapportionment Committee began meeting on October 26 to consider new Congressional district lines, as well as state House and Senate districts, and Alabama State Board of Education districts. As a result of that session, the Republican majority adopted a new district map that retained or exacerbated those conditions.

Following the law's passage, two more lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Court on November 16 by separate groups of plaintiffs, each seeking orders enjoining then Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill from conducting elections using that map. These suits were filed as:

• Marcus Caster, et al. v. John H. Merrill, Alabama Secretary of State, et al. (No. 2:21-cv-1536) was filed by Marcus Caster, Lakeisha Chestnut, Bobby Lee Dubose, Benjamin Jones, Rodney Allen Love, Manasseh Powell, Ronald Smith, and Wendell Thomas. The plaintiffs contended that the new districts as drawn violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Judge Anna Manasco was assigned the case. She ruled on January 22, 2023 that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail, and ordered the legislature to pass a new plan within 14 days that included an additional district in which Black voters would have the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.
• Evan Milligan v. John H. Merrill, Alabama Secretary of State, et al. (No. 2:21-cv-1530) was filed by Evan Milligan, Shalela Dowdy, Letetia Jackson, Khadidah Stone, Adia Winfrey, Greater Birmingham Ministries, and the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP. In addition to the Attorney General, the suit named Jim McClendon and Chris Pringle, co-chairs of the Alabama Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment, as defendants.

References

• Yurkanin, Any (September 28, 2021) "Lawsuit challenges Alabama Congressional districts as diluting the Black vote." The Birmingham News
• Cason, Mike (October 15, 2021) "Racial makeup of congressional districts will be issue in Alabama special session." The Birmingham News
• Cason, Mike (November 4, 2021) "Gov. Kay Ivey signs bills for Alabama’s new congressional, legislative districts." The Birmingham News
• Koplowitz, Howard (January 24, 2022) "Alabama’s congressional redistricting maps blocked: Federal judges seek more Black majority districts." The Birmingham News