By JEMMA STEPHENSON, Alabama Reflector
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A cartographer appointed by the court overseeing Alabama’s congressional redistricting lawsuit has stepped away from the case.
Nathaniel Persily, a Stanford University School of Law professor appointed cartographer by the court in Feb. 2022, withdrew from the position on Monday, according to an order from the court. The three judges considering the case Monday ordered the parties to submit the names of three to five cartographers to take his place.
The submissions are due by noon this coming Friday, the last day for any objections to the map signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey last week. The court is scheduled to hold a hearing on the case on Aug. 14.
The court in January 2022 ruled that Alabama’s 2021 congressional maps violated the Voting Rights Act, a decision upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. The court said the remedy would be a new map with two majority Black districts, or something “quite close to it.”
The Alabama Legislature Friday approved a Republican-sponsored map that had one majority Black district and one district that is about 40% Black.
Republican lawmakers said the map complied with the court’s order to create an “opportunity district” where Black voters would have a chance to elect leaders of their choosing. Democratic said a 40% district was not “quite close” to a majority, as the judges directed, and said it would be difficult for their preferred candidate to win.
Richard Allen, a former Alabama Department of Corrections commissioner who worked for years in the Alabama attorney general’s office, remains in place as special master.
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