. The judges — two of whom were appointed by former President Donald Trump — noted they weren’t aware “of any other case in which a state Legislature — faced with a federal court order declaring that its electoral plan unlawfully dilutes minority votes and requiring a plan that provides an additional opportunity district — responded with a plan that the state concedes does not provide that district.
Alabama wants a stay by Oct. 1, and the voting rights plaintiffs will first get to weigh in with their own filing by Sept. 19, so look for the court to rule later this month. Just as the Supreme Court “held that ‘race-based’ affirmative action in education ‘at some point’ had to ‘end,’” Alabama’s legal team argued, quoting from the affirmative action ruling, “the same principle applies to affirmative action in districting.”