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| Alabama State House - Montgomery, Alabama |
Alabama's attorney general filed a lawsuit Thursday
asking a federal court to approve a redistricting plan for his Legislature
without requiring the plan to go through the U.S. Justice Department for
approval to make sure it doesn't discriminate against minority voters.
The
lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment from a three-judge panel of U.S. District
Court in Washington finding that the plan approved by the Alabama Legislature
during a special session in May does not deny or abridge the right to vote
based on race or color.
Alabama
and several other Southern states or counties need federal approval for
election changes under the 1965 Voting Rights Act because of their histories of
voter discrimination.
Thursday's
lawsuit from Alabama also takes aim at that requirement: If the court doesn't
grant a declaratory judgment, Alabama argues it should find the preclearance
provision and its 2006 amendments unconstitutional.
Democrats
in the Legislature have complained that the plan passed by the
Republican-controlled Legislature was written to favor Republicans and packed
black voters in some districts while leaving them with little influence in
other districts.
Senate
Minority Leader Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, said the attorney general's
office wants to avoid the justice department's preclearance process because the
Legislature "passed a racially gerrymandered plan."
"It's
a ridiculous waste of taxpayer's money," Bedford said of the lawsuit. He
said Republicans are trying to circumvent the way voting changes have been
approved in Alabama for the last 40 years.
House Minority Leader Craig Ford said he believes Republicans want to avoid going to the Justice Department because they are "ashamed of the way they drew the lines."
The
state also seeks an injunction preventing Attorney General Eric Holder from
enforcing the pre-clearance provision.
Republicans always cry about the wrong matters, and they are continuing to deceive the citizens of this country. Let’s just be fair in all of this Republicans and Republicans alike. It’s not about the people, it’s about you constructing all this to favor your political power in our state. Why not let the people decide at the ballot box, oh no that’s too much huh, Rep. Mark Hubbard, Republican Chairman Bill Armistead, and Gov. Robert Bently? You just refuse to let the people decide.
It’s sad that the attorney general has asked the court
to over step the boundaries of the Department of Justice to approve something
that they want to favor their political party and not the citizens of this
state.
