ELAINE H. SPEARMAN COMMENTARY: Key Supreme Court case looms on Alabama congressional map
As voters, it is incumbent upon us to be concerned about everything at every level that affects our voting rights, as well as our voting power. The trickle-down theory is alive and well. What happens on the federal level trickles down through the state level and, ultimately, to the local level.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case on Oct. 4 that is a consolidation of federal lawsuits challenging Alabama’s congressional district map as racially discriminatory. The plaintiffs won at the district level and have filed briefs with the Supreme Court.
The map in question is similar to the court-ordered map used in 1992 that resulted in a majority Black district, District 7. Prior to that, Alabama had an all-white Congressional delegation from 1877 to 1992. You count the years.
The question to be considered is “whether the state’s map violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting procedures that discriminate on the basis of race.”
No matter where you stand politically, Alabama’s congressional representation should not look like the state’s delegation looks in 2022.
Just so that you will know, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the opinion granting the stay that Alabama requested so the map could be used in this year’s congressional races. He wrote, “The stay order is not a ruling on the merits, but instead simply stays the District Court's injunction pending a ruling on the merits.”
We shall stay tuned.
Vice President Kamala Harris is front and center in the quest to reinvigorate the Democratic Party. According to a recent article, she appears to be channeling her no-nonsense mother. Her mother would respond to complaints about unfairness with “So what are you going to do about it?”
A Washington Post article gave four messaging strategies to Democrats from Vice President Harris: 1) She is putting the Supreme Court on the ballot as a threat to equality and democracy; 2) She is calling out Republicans for what they are: extremist; 3) She is expressing contempt for Republicans’ ludicrous defense of easy access to semiautomatic weapons; and 4) She is redirecting Democrats to productive action.
Perhaps the state Democratic Party will listen and take heed since the party is to select a new chairman. The State Executive Committee newly elected during the May primary will meet Aug. 13 in Birmingham.
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, has said that he will not seek another term. England has been chair since November 2019. According to a recent article, the Alabama Democratic Conference will develop a slate of candidates for chair and other officer slots for the Aug. 13 meeting.
Joe Reed, the head of the influential Black political organization, said, “The candidates will be white and Black candidates,” and that the “party needs to be rebuilt after four years of division.”
Actions taken at the organizational meeting Aug. 13 have the possibility of having great impact going forward. Perhaps plans can be formulated for vetting of candidates seeking office. The time is past for prospective candidates personally deciding that they are the most suitable for the position being sought.
The current Democratic gubernatorial candidate is lackluster and has shown herself to be out of touch and out of time. Her religious-based musings on Facebook are unintelligible. You decide. She is quoted as saying “Roe v. Wade has become a burden that I can’t bear.”
As all of the federal and state actions wend their way to the local level, the candidates are marshaling their forces in whatever way that they can.
One mayoral candidate posted a picture of a note that he wrote and a picture of a check that he had received. It was illuminating. Campaign donations received, and those that are returned, tell you what a candidate will and will not allow to blur his or her vision in office. It illustrates an old adage, “Follow the money.”
Voters in Gadsden are continually exposed to information about who or what groups have funded recent campaigns. Large sums of money given to a candidate are given with purpose, motive and intent. Voters must pay attention.
Candidates need to focus on running for office on their own merit. Spreading untruths on an opposing candidate does not increase voter support. It really exposes the spreader’s lack of merit and, most importantly, lack of character and ethics.
Candidates for office should offer the best that they have to voters. It would be prudent to remember Haman, a very proud man in the Book of Esther. Be aware that he was hanged on the very gallows that he built for another.
Elaine Harris Spearman, Esq., a Gadsden native, is an attorney and is the retired legal advisor to the comptroller of the City of St. Louis. The opinions reflected are her own.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Voters need to be concerned about voting power
