On behalf of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the League of Women Voters of Alabama (LWVAL), the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) and Stand-Up Mobile, a pro bono team from SRZ has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Merrill v. Milligan that:
(1) Explains the current ties and deep history connecting the City of Mobile to Alabama’s Black Belt to demonstrate that they form a community of interest and may be properly joined in a new redistricting map that would create a second majority-Black congressional district in Alabama, and
(2) Argues that state legislatures do not violate the Equal Protection clause simply by considering race-correlated factors in identifying the “communities of interest” who can together constitute an effective voting district.
Attorneys and staff from all of SRZ’s offices in New York, Washington D.C., and London participated in this effort. The pro bono team included Gary Stein, Alexandra (Alex) Carlton, Noah Gillespie, Savannah Price, Lauren Bidwell, Ashley Bogdan, Alex Mason-Pazmiño, Brennan McCray, Crystal Mor Henwood, Noah Wright and Donna Angiulo.
Read the SPLC press release here.