It is now official.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has called a special session of the Alabama Legislature for Monday, May 4, ordering lawmakers back to Montgomery to redraw the state’s congressional maps after the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring race-based gerrymandering unconstitutional.
In a formal proclamation issued Friday, Ivey stated the Legislature would consider “primary elections” legislation and redraw districts whose boundaries were altered by prior court rulings, injunctions, or judicial orders.
That means Alabama Republicans are moving swiftly to reclaim control of congressional lines that had been reshaped through years of legal warfare and activist court intervention.
For years, Alabama has been at the center of a bitter redistricting battle after left-wing groups sued to force the state into creating a second Black-opportunity congressional district. Federal courts repeatedly interfered with maps passed by elected lawmakers, overriding the will of Alabama voters.
But the legal landscape changed dramatically this week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the use of race as the predominant factor in redistricting, dealing a massive blow to the race-based mapmaking agenda pushed by Democrats and activist groups.
Hellbound and Down 