A Briefing on the Alabama Redistricting Cases

On Monday, November 10, 2014, ACS hosted a briefing on Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama and Alabama Democratic Conference v. Alabama, two cases that challenge Alabama’s legislative redistricting plans as unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. A panel of experts explored petitioners’ claim that the state has unconstitutionally classified black voters in violation of the Equal Protection Clause and the state’s response that its use of race in the redistricting process was necessary to comply with the Voting Rights Act.  The cases will be argued together before the Supreme Court on November 12.

Katie O’Connor, ACS Director of Policy Development and Programming provided an introduction to the event.  Julie A. Fernandes, Senior Policy Analyst at Open Society Foundations, moderated. The panel featured Kareem U. Crayton, Associate Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, John M. Gore, Associate at Jones Day, Jon M. Greenbaum, Chief Counsel and Senior Deputy Director at Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Wendy R. Weiser, Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law