Legislators given federal deadline for congressional map redistrictin…

(WHNT) — A federal three-judge panel today declared the Alabama Legislature has to redraw the state’s congressional map by July 21st.

In a 5-4 decision on June 8, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling that found Alabama’s current 7-district congressional map violated the Voting Rights Act and ordered the GOP-led state to create a new map with an additional majority-Black district.

The court ruled the plaintiffs were correct that Alabama’s black population was large enough to justify a majority black or near-majority black congressional districts. Right now, Alabama has one majority-black district, district 7 in West Alabama.

The state of Alabama is the defendant in the case. Lawyers for the state told the three-judge panel last week that the legislature intended to redraw the map during a special session from July 17th through the 21st….