MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Here in the U.S., Southern states controlled by Republicans are now moving to change their congressional maps after last week's Supreme Court ruling, which further gutted the Voting Rights Act. The Tennessee legislature started a special session for redistricting today. There's also legislative action in Montgomery, Alabama, which is where we find NPR's Debbie Elliott. Hey there, Deb.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Hi, Mary Louise.
KELLY: So tell me about this special session in Alabama. I gather it started yesterday. What are they trying to do?
ELLIOTT: You know, after the Supreme Court last week effectively removed race as a consideration for drawing congressional district lines in Louisiana, the Republican-controlled legislature here in Alabama moved to try to revert back to maps they drew back in 2023. Now, federal courts later found those maps discriminated against Black voters and instead created new congressional maps. That resulted in the state getting a second Black Democrat in Congress. The courts at that time also banned Alabama from redistricting again until after the 2030 census. So the legislation that's moving through the state House this week is basically a mechanism that would impose those old maps - and this is what you should listen to - only if the courts lift that ban. So Alabama's attorney general has asked the Supreme Court to do just that.
KELLY: So much to keep track of - what has the debate been like there in Alabama?
ELLIOTT: You know, at a hearing this morning, the House sponsor of the bill, Republican Representative Chris Pringle, faced some questions about whether this was about taking away representation from Black citizens, who make up a little over a quarter of the state's population. Democrat Napoleon Bracy sounded very skeptical that conditions had changed in three years' time. Let's listen to a bit of his questioning of Pringle.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NAPOLEON BRACY JR: Back then, that map was deemed not in the best interests of Black people in the state of Alabama, right? And then now all of a sudden, if the Supreme Court says something different, the same racist map that was struck down will come back to life and all of a sudden not be racist anymore?
CHRIS PRINGLE: Like I said, all this bill does is provide an opportunity for the citizens in the affected districts to cast their vote for the candidate that they're choosing.
ELLIOTT: Legislative leaders insist this is not about race but about the majority party reflecting the will of Alabama's conservative voters.
KELLY: The will of the voters - how are voters responding to all this?
ELLIOTT: You know, at the committee hearing today, every single public speaker voiced opposition and framed the bill as a setback for racial progress in Alabama, and many of them noting the rich civil rights history here, right? That sentiment was also echoed outside the state House. There was a rally where - you can hear here - people were very fired up.
TERRI SEWELL: (Chanting) We won't go back.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Chanting) We won't go back.
SEWELL: (Chanting) We won't go back.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Chanting) We won't go back.
ELLIOTT: Leading that chant, Mary Louise, is Democratic Congresswoman Terri Sewell from Selma. She's the first Black woman elected to Congress in Alabama.
SEWELL: This is not about party politics. This is about whether communities like ours can elect leaders who understand their lived experience...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes.
SEWELL: ...And fight for their needs.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes.
SEWELL: It's about who gets heard in the nation's capital and who doesn't, who gets heard in our democracy and who doesn't.
KELLY: Deb, there is a clock ticking here. Alabama's primary is coming right up two weeks from today, if I'm not mistaken. That'll go ahead?
ELLIOTT: Right, the secretary of state, it will go as planned. The legislation only creates a path for a special election later should the courts allow Alabama to change its map. It's on track for passage here in the legislature, where Republicans hold the supermajority. But civil rights groups are watching closely to the debate and are likely to challenge the outcome in the courts.
KELLY: NPR's Debbie Elliott reporting in Montgomery, Alabama - thank you, Deb.
ELLIOTT: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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