SRZ Associate Noah Gillespie Quoted in Courthouse News Service

Schulte Roth & Zabel associate Noah Gillespie recently spoke to Kelsey Reichmann from Courthouse News Service regarding the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to uphold a lower court ruling that Alabama must create a second majority Black congressional district in compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Despite concerns that a decision from SCOTUS could result in a setback for voting rights, the ruling affirmed the right of Black Alabamians to fair representation.

SRZ submitted an amicus brief on behalf of Southern Poverty Law Center, League of Women Voters and Stand-Up Mobile, outlining how Black Alabamians in the state’s Black Belt, where Black people comprise much of the population, and in Mobile constitute a community of interest and have been systematically deprived of their right to elect candidates of their choice to represent their interests in Congress.

Noah explained that, “the reason everyone was concerned is there have been several different decisions that have whittled away at the Voting Rights Act over time — one of the most significant was Shelby County v. Holder in 2013, another case out of Alabama.”

Noah continued, “now we have another case going to the Supreme Court. It's about Section 2 — which is one of the best avenues that communities who are affected have to raise issues with voting systems that they're dealing with.” 

Read the article here.