Courts rejecting gerrymandered maps

A federal court on Monday shot down Alabama’s newly proposed Congressional district map over concerns it underrepresents minority voters, WBRC reports.

The three-judge panel sided unanimously with plaintiffs in redistricting lawsuits by ruling that they're likely to prove "Black voters have less opportunity than other Alabamians to elect candidates of their choice to Congress." As it currently stands, the newly-drawn map likely violates a section of the Voting Rights Act, the court stated.

[...]

The federal judges have given the state two weeks to draw up another map that "will need to include two districts in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it."

If the state legislature doesn't meet the Feb. 11 deadline to provide a new map proposal, the court will provide "an eminently qualified expert" to do so.

  The Hill

I'm going to guess Republicans will use this to claim there's no need to reform or strengthen voting rights legislation.

Alabama’s Attorney General reportedly says he plans to appeal the court's decision.

The same thing recently happened in Ohio.

The Ohio Supreme Court rejected a new map of state congressional districts Friday as gerrymandered, sending the blueprint back for another try.

In the 4-3 decision, justices returned the map to the powerful Ohio Redistricting Commission, or its map-drawing counterparts in the Legislature, and said they must assure the next plan actually complies with the Ohio Constitution.

[...]

Writing for the majority, Justice Michael Donnelly, one of the court’s three Democrats, wrote, "(T)he evidence in these cases makes clear beyond all doubt that the General Assembly did not heed the clarion call sent by Ohio voters to stop political gerrymandering."

[...]

Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 that set up a new system to avoid gerrymandering.

  Fox News

These days legislatures don't care what voters want.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.