Supreme Court rules against Alabama redistricting plan

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-rules-against-alabama-redistricting-plan/2015/03/25/9545576a-d2f5-11e4-a62f-ee745911a4ff_story.html

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with black challengers who said Alabama’s redistricting plan improperly relied on race to draw legislative districts.

The court voted 5 to 4 to send the plan back for further judicial review. Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the opinion, and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy sided with the court’s liberals to make up the majority.

The challenge was brought by black officeholders and Democrats who argued that the state’s Republican leadership packed minority voters into districts that allowed the election of African American officials but reduced their influence elsewhere.

But Breyer said that a panel of judges who had approved the redistricting plan had taken an approach that was too mechanical in approving the plan. He said that redrawing plans after a census must do more than simply maintain current minority percentages in districts.

[progressoid]

1. Rec!

[beam me up scottie]

2. k&r