Greene County Democrat

Month: February 2022

  • Newswire: ‘Paying ransom for freedom’: How cash bail is keeping Black mothers stuck in prison

    Three of JaCari Letchaw’s children meet her when she was released from the Birmingham Jail

     

    By Randi Richardson, NBC News

     
    In December, JaCari Letchaw’s dog wandered to a neighbor’s house, where it gave birth to puppies. Letchaw says when she tried to retrieve her dog and the puppies, a dispute broke out over who was the rightful owner of the puppies. She walked away, but later that night the Black single mother of five was arrested and eventually sent to Jefferson County’s jail in Birmingham, Alabama. 
    Her bail was set at $60,000 for a first-degree robbery charge. It was far more than she could afford; her most recent job had paid only $14 an hour. The monetary difference meant Letchaw would have to wait in jail until her trial started — which could be months away.
    “I absolutely had no idea how I was going to pay my bail. There was no way possible. Sitting in there, I even lost my job,” Letchaw told NBC News. 
    She also almost lost her house while awaiting trial in jail for two weeks. She was only able to return home after a local social justice organization, Faith and Works, posted her bail on Christmas Day through its fund, In Defense of Black Lives. The group has a relationship with Birmingham’s sheriff’s department, which referred her case. 
    Letchaw recalled that when representatives from In Defense of Black Lives first approached her and offered to bail her out, she immediately thought, “Bail who out?” 
    “That kind of thing just doesn’t happen very often,” she said. “There was nothing else that I could do, there was absolutely nothing else. And when I hear Faith and Works, they want to come and bail me out, I’m crying. I think I almost went into a panic attack.”

    Most women in jails are like Letchaw: Black, single mothers or only incarcerated because they can’t afford to post bail. Of the more than 115,000 women in jails in the U.S., more than 60 percent haven’t been convicted of a crime, but are incarcerated while awaiting trial because they can’t make bail, according to the Sentencing Project.  Forty-four percent of women in jail are Black, and 80 percent of women are single mothers or primary caregivers for their children, according to a 2016 report by Vera Institute of Justice. 
    These disparities are among the many reasons why advocates say the cash bail system is long overdue for reform, if not abolishment.

    ‘Paying ransom for freedom’

    Cara McClure founded Faith and Works in 2017 and its bail fund three years later, which is specifically dedicated to bailing out Black mothers. She said the cash bail system criminalizes poverty while rewarding wealth.
    “Paying ransom for freedom is something that goes way back, historically,” she said. “Let’s just say, for instance, me and you committed the same crime. You have money, I don’t have money. You get to go home and I have to sit there. And I just don’t understand me sitting there.”
    According to the Vera report, poverty is a key reason many people commit crimes. Sixty percent of women in jail didn’t have full-time jobs before being arrested, and the majority of women in jail are there for low-level, nonviolent crimes such as property, drug or public order offenses.
    While local, state and federal governments have been slow to overhaul the cash bail system, many organizations across the country, such as Faith and Works, are stepping up to bail people out for low-level, nonviolent offenses.

    How a bail fund works

    The National Bail Fund Network is an umbrella organization for more than 90 community bail funds, most of which are organized by local or state activists who’ve collected donations from community members or businesses and usually have partnerships with public defenders and sheriff’s departments to get referrals on potential candidates. After receiving a referral, the organizations typically evaluate defendants according to re-entry options, threat to society and other markers before deciding who to bail out. Most states have at least one bail fund.
    The organization fronts the money to post bail for defendants. If the case is dismissed, or the defendant returns for trial, the funds are returned and used for the next case. According to the Richmond Community Bail Fund, funds across the U.S. typically see a more than 90 percent rate of return for these funds. 

    The funds have freed thousands of people from jail in recent years. The Colorado Freedom Fund, for instance, has posted $2.4 million for more than 900 people in the five years it’s been around. The Memphis Community Bail Fund has spent $1 million over five years bailing out more than 400 people. And the Richmond Community Bail Fund spent $1.3 million in the second half of 2020 to bail out almost 400 people.
    The Liberty Fund in New York City formed in 2017 and has since bailed out 1,200 people. 
    David Long, executive director of the Liberty Fund, said that cash bail no longer operates the way it was designed. Cash bail was originally intended to ensure a defendant showed up to court, he said, but what’s developed instead is a system that disproportionately punishes the poor.
    Letchaw’s oldest son, who was with her during the neighborhood dispute, was also arrested and is currently in jail because the family can’t afford to post his $90,000 bail.

    Disproportionate impact on Black women

    The Bail Project, a national fund, has posted bonds for more than 20,000 people across the U.S. Seventy-six percent were women, and of that group, 1 in 3 were Black mothers.
    One of those bailouts was Taylor Bates, a Black single mother who was five months pregnant when she was arrested in Atlanta last June following a dispute with a family member. She couldn’t make her $1,000 bail, so she stayed in DeKalb County’s jail for almost a month until the Bail Project posted it on her behalf. Without that financial support, she would have delivered her baby in jail and would likely still be there, since her case is ongoing.
    Twyla Carter, the organization’s national director of legal and policy, said that “jail was a horrific experience” for Bates.
    “Because of the pandemic, she was kept in isolation 23 hours a day. She had experienced a miscarriage before and was worried she would lose this baby, too. Fortunately, we were able to assist and her baby was born healthy. Her dream is to open her own restaurant one day.”
    DeKalb County jail officials declined NBC News’ requests for comment.
    Carter said Black mothers are particularly vulnerable to the cash bail system.
    “The disproportionate impact on Black women in particular and Black mothers is great because their inability to post a cash bond is the result of a wide range of societal issues and barriers that come into play,” she said. “Black women, in particular, carrying on the brunt of this humanitarian crisis that we’re seeing, especially when you think in terms of Black women having to afford their own bail amount, which is typically set at a higher rate when they are charged with the same offenses as white women or other women, and they’re less likely to be able to afford it.”
    Meanwhile, Letchaw’s case is still ongoing. 
    “If I had not been blessed with Faith and Works, I would probably still be sitting in there,” she said. “The time there was very horrible. It is just like modern day slavery. They keep you in a cage. They treat you like animals.”
    Jefferson County Jail officials declined  NBC News’ requests for comment.

  • Greene County Commission agrees to
    settlement of lawsuits with Greenetrack

    By: John Zippert, Co-Publisher

    At its February 14 regular meeting, the Greene County Commission passed a resolution agreeing to settle two long-running lawsuits with Greenetrack, which had clouded the county’s financial position.

    The first lawsuit concerned the Commission’s lease payment for its undivided half of ownership of the Greenetrack property and facility. When Bear Bryant Jr.’s corporation left Greenetrack, he gave the ownership, half to the County Commission and half to the employees of Greenetrack.

    Greenetrack set up a lease agreement under which it was paying $150,000 a year to the Greene County Commission. Luther Winn, CEO of Greenetrack said, “Because the Commission was experiencing financial difficulties, we voluntarily increased our payment to $250,000 a year.”

    The lease agreement ended in 2012 and the Commission decided not to cash the 2013 lease payment check of $250,000 with Greenetrack, because Nick Underwood, Commission Chair at that time, wanted to renegotiate the lease and increase the amount. The 2013 check was never cashed and the dispute led to the Commission filling a lawsuit against Greenetrack.

    The settlement, which was negotiated by Allen Turner, Chair and the late Lester Brown, Vice-Chair, provided that the County would be paid $100,000 a year in back rent, for eight years 2013-2021. This $800,000 would be paid in five yearly installments of $160,000. A new lease for two years, beginning on March 1, 2022, with an automatic one-year extension, would be at $100,000 per year.

    If there are less than 5 gaming entities in the county, at the end of the lease period, the annual rental would increase to $175,000; if there are more than 5 gaming entities, the rental would decline to $50,000 annually; if there are 5 gaming entities the annual rent would remain at $100,000.

    The settlement stipulated that the joint property owned by Greene County Commission and Greenetrack was the total 53.128 acres where the racing, gaming and collateral facilities and land are located.

    The settlement also settled another lawsuit by Greenetrack against the Commission concerning operation and maintenance of the sewage lagoon on the property. The Commission had escrowed $160,000 in fees for the lagoon, which will be released to the Greene County Water and Sewage Authority on March 1, 2022.

    This lawsuit settlement was first presented to the Greene County Commission at a Special Call Meeting on January 24, 2022.
    The meeting was attended by three commissioners, Chair Allen Turner, Tennyson Smith and Corey Cockrell. Commissioner Brown had passed and Commissioner Summerville was absent. Smith moved approval of the settlement but Cockrell would not second the motion and said that he did not agree to the settlement because it favored Greenetrack.

    At the recent January 24th meeting, all four commissioners voted for the settlement, which will now go forward.

    The Commission agreed to reopen the Senior Citizens Feeding Program at sites at the Eutaw Activity Center and Forkland City Hall as of March 1. The centers had been closed due to COVID-19. The Commission also agreed to re-open the Eutaw Activity Center for other activities as of the same date.

    The Commission passed a resolution to be sent to the Governor, Legislative delegation and the family to name LaPorsha Brown, to fill out the remaining months of her father’s term, representing District 1 on the Greene County Commission.

    In other actions, the Greene County Commission:

    • Approved the 2022 AC County licenses levy and approved a license for Christopher Atkins.

    • Approved accepting low bid from West Alabama Fencing for $38,840 for fencing on roadways.

    • Approved the financial report and paid outstanding claims. The report showed $4.610,952 I Citizens Trust Bank, $4.895.174 in Merchants and Farmers Bank and $1,098,699 in bond sinking funds in the Bank of New York.

    • Approved advertising of available positions in the Highway Department; and travel for staff to training conferences.

    • Re-appointed Shirley Edwards to the Greene County Health System Board of Directors.

    The Commission tabled action on the use of American Rescue Act funds, action on a franchise agreement letter From Charter Communications concerning broadband in parts of the county; and appointment of two hospital board members from District 2.

  • Christopher “Chris” Armstead wants to serve District 4 as County Commissioner

    Residents of District 4, I desire to serve you as your next District 4 County Commissioner. If you give me 4, I will give you More. I have served on the Town of Forkland Council for the last five years and currently serve as Mayor Pro-tempore. I am employed with the Greene County Health Systems as Plant Operations & Information Technology (IT) Director. My wife, Denise, and I reside in Forkland, AL, and are the proud parents of 5 children.
    I believe progression is more than mere words; progression should be seen and not just heard. My work as a councilor serves as a foundation in governmental leadership and demonstrates my strategy of progression for District 4. I will continue working toward a better future for every community, every household, and every person that resides in this district.
    Collaboration, transparency, and accountability are the key attributes I will implement in moving our district to new heights. If you give me 4, I will give you More.
    In only four years, I was instrumental in securing the first Dollar General in our district, reactivating a police force in our district, establishing a municipal court system in our district, and later this year, the first Public Safety Building in District 4 will be erected.
    One of my most appreciated accomplishments involved opening the first Forkland Innovative Center, which was successfully comprised of computer and educational classes that focused on bridging the gap of technology with our senior citizens. Additionally, as chairperson of Forkland Parks & Recreation, the first Forkland Youth Center, a family-oriented amusement center featuring arcade games, virtual learning, and activities for the youth of our communities, will be opening in a few weeks. 
    Conceptional plans revealing a total renovation of the Forkland Park are forthcoming with elaborate new features. If you give me 4, I will give you More.
    I realize the need and understand the process of seeking and obtaining grant funds to improve infrastructure in our district. During the last four years, roads have been paved and water lines have been upgraded. Currently, collaborations are forth going for additional infrastructure projects.
    District 4 can become a prosperous area, where progression is conducive to every resident and the residents of our surrounding communities. Therefore, constituents of District 4, I asked for your prayers, your support, and your vote on May 24, 2022. Let’s work Together to move Greene County forward. “If you give me 4, I’ll give your More!”

  • KeUndra Cox seeks District 72 State Representative seat

    My name is Ke’Undra Cox, I am from Eutaw, Alabama. And I am honored to announced that I am running for the office of State Representative for Alabama 72nd House District. I have always had a desire to serve the people . As early as I can remember, I was eager to do my part to help in any way I could. When I was a young boy, I proudly joined the boy scouts. I took pride in serving my community. When I graduated  high school, I  knew I wanted to enter a career that would allow me to continue to serve the people. So, in 2018, I enlisted in the United  States Air Force Reserve. I raised my right hand, and I swore an oath to the Constitution and to the American people that I would protect and serve this great nation.
    As a airman, I learned the important of service before self.  I learned that real leadership is not about personal gain, but is about the greater good of the people you serve. And now I want to  serve the people  of District 72. I want to be  the type of person that the people can trust. I want  them know that they can always rely on me . I will remind engaged not just during election time but every single day. Our people deserve better. And now is the time for us to unite, and fight for a better future. Together we will succeed.
    I am asking for your vote in the 2022 General Election on November 8. My allegiance is not to a political party, but to the people of District 72.

  • COVID-19

    As of February 16, 2022, at 10:00 AM
    (according to Alabama Political Reporter)

    Alabama had 1,267, 907 confirmed cases of coronavirus,
    (17,524) more than last week with 17,749 deaths (342) more
    than last week)

    Greene County had 1,825 confirmed cases, (55) more cases than last week), with 48 deaths

    Sumter Co. had 2,469 cases with 45 deaths

    Hale Co. had 4,595 cases with 97 deaths

    Note: Greene County Physicians Clinic has testing and lvaccination for COVID-19; Call for appointments at 205/372-3388, Ext. 142; ages 5 and up.

  • Greene County Tigers win the 2A Area 6 Championship and Sub-Regional

    By: Moses Tyree III


    Greene County High Varsity Basketball Team competed in the 2A Area 6 Championship against the Francis Marion Rams on February 10, 2022. The Tigers have been defeated by the Rams twice before inthe Area Championship. The Tigers defeated the Rams with the final score being 61 – 59.
    The Tigers’ lead scorer of the game was Allen Pelt with 13 points. The game was close all four quarters, but that didn’t stop the Tigers from giving it their all. In the final moments of the game with only 11.0 seconds remaining in the game, the Tigers very own Akeem Edmonds brings the ball down the court and hands it off to Allen Pelt; Pelt then finds Eddie Robinson in the paint and gives it to him to make the final basket to win the game.
    Finally, during the trophy presentation of the night, several players were named Area Basketball All-Tournament. The Tigers, who are led by Coach Rodney Wesley, applauded his team by saying the whole team would receive the MVP award. The Tigers would move on to Host the Sub-Regional Tournament at Home. Greene County Tigers faced Calhoun Tigers on February 15, 2022.
    On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, The Tigers played against Calhoun Tigers at The Tigers Den. The Preparation for the game was outstanding; the tigers had a Tiger walk surrounded by cheerleaders, Marching Band, Faculty, Staff, and Student body. Later that evening, It was all action. The Tigers kept the lead all four quarters and finished the game 54-30. The Tigers would now move on to play in the game of the regional semifinal on Friday, February 18, 2022, against Clarke County Tigers at 1:30 pm at the Montgomery Multiplex.

  • Newswire: United Nations: severe drought has brought on near catastrophic hunger in the Horn of Africa

    Nyawaneloe Mat (20) and her son Nyapal Bol. They recently moved to Ayod from Guong. She cannot produce enough milk for her son, who is receiving supplementary food from WFP to treat moderate acute malnutrition. In Jonglei State, South Sudan’s most underdeveloped region, nearly 20,000 people have been displaced this year, while thousands more have lost their homes and livelihoods. Following the record floods, an emergency team from the World Food Programme (WFP) was deployed to Ayod town in Ayod County to assess conditions and distribute urgently needed food and nutrition supplies to more than 70,000 people in the county. In order to register people, WFP uses SCOPE, WFP’s beneficiary management system that collects personal data to identify and support them wherever they are. This is the first time since 2014 that WFP has been able to reach Ayod town after many years of fighting that displaced people and made it unsafe for humanitarian organizations to operate. The ongoing floods come amid an already critical time for South Sudan, that is experiencing its worst food crisis since independence. Currently, 60 percent of its population faces severe food insecurity while more than eight million people depend on humanitarian aid.

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    The United Nations World Food Program is appealing to the world for at least $327 million to care for the urgent needs of 4.5 million people over the next six months and help communities become better-equipped to deal with extreme climate shocks.

    An estimated 13 million are facing severe hunger mostly because of droughts that have afflicted the Horn of Africa, and those in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia are experiencing droughts not seen in more than 40 years.

    UN officials contend that malnutrition rates also have soared in the region.
    People in South Sudan, Yemen, and the northern parts of Ethiopia and Nigeria, are especially risk, according to the Hunger Hotspots report, published jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

    The report calls for action to “prevent starvation, death and the total collapse of livelihoods” as more and more people slide towards catastrophic hunger.

    “As humanitarian actors, we are faced with overwhelming challenges. We must scale up operations in challenging conditions, we must sustain critical assistance in complex crises, and we must be prepared to respond quickly to sudden disruptions and unexpected emergencies,” Margot van der Velden, the U.N. World Food Programme’s director of emergencies, said in the report.

    The troubling record notes that the primary drivers of hunger include conflict, climate, and economic challenges.

    According to the report, “many of the people that the U.N. World Food Programme and FAO support are fleeing conflict and have been forced to abandon their land, homes and jobs in countries such as the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and the Central Sahel region.”

    Weather extremes such as heavy rains, tropical storms, hurricanes, flooding and drought continue to wreak havoc in most vulnerable countries, making life particularly hard in places such as Afghanistan, Angola, Haiti and Syria, the report continued.

    “Three consecutive failed rainy seasons have decimated crops and caused abnormally high livestock deaths,” the agency — which won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize — said in a statement. “Shortages of water and pasture are forcing families from their homes and leading to increased conflict between communities.”

    More forecasts of below-average rainfall raise the specter of worsened conditions in the coming months, the agency said.

    Meanwhile, the economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic persist and are projected to continue to increase food prices and drive hunger.
    Officials noted that, despite a brief decrease in mid-2021, world food prices have continuously risen since May 2020.

    South Sudan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Yemen are identified as the four countries at risk of catastrophic hunger.

     

  • Newswire: Unsolved deaths of two Black women, two Bridgeport Police detectives placed on leave

    Brenda Lee Rawls, 53, and Lauren Smith-Fields, 23


    By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

    Two Bridgeport, Connecticut, police detectives are now on administrative leave after public attention that spurred attention from the media and brought scrutiny surrounding the deaths of two Black women.
    The two Black women, Brenda Lee Rawls, 53, and Lauren Smith-Fields, 23, died on the same day: Dec. 12, 2021, in separate incidents. The Chief Medical Examiner in Bridgeport has not determined a cause of death for Rawls. Rawls was close to her family by text and by phone and informed them she was to visit a male acquaintance. When she was non-responsive two days later the family became concerned.
    Lauren Smith-Fields, was in contact with a man she met on the dating app Bumble. Smith-Fields was found dead in her apartment after that date. That man, who is 37 and white, called 911 on Dec. 12 but it’s unclear if police contacted him for questioning in Smith-Fields’ death.
    The medical examiner said on January 31 that Smith-Fields’ death was an accident related to “acute intoxication.”
    An attorney for Smith-Fields’ family, Darnell Crosland, has indicated that the family intends to sue the city of Bridgeport over what he described as the police department’s “racially insensitive” handling of Smith-Fields’ case.
    In reaction to growing criticism of the lack of investigation on the part of police, Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim extended condolences to the families of Smith-Fields and Rawls in a statement on January 30.
    Ganim also said he was planning to work with the police chief to “make appropriate changes here in Bridgeport now for our department’s policies and practices regarding notifying family members of a death.”
    The news of the two police detectives being placed on administrative laeve gives an indication that the cases of Rawls and Smith-Fields will receive more attention and scrutiny.

  • Newswire: FBI announces investigation into bomb threats against HBCUs

    Harris-Stowe State University in Missouri


    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, joined other groups and individuals in welcoming the FBI’s hate crime investigation into bomb threats targeting historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and the identification of six persons of interest in connection with the case.

    The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force announced it was investigating the dozens of bomb threats received by HBCUs nationwide on February 1 as “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism and hate crimes.”

    More than a dozen HBCUs, including Howard University in Washington, Morgan State University in Baltimore, and Harris-Stowe State University in Missouri, were targeted with bomb threats.

    Federal investigators have identified six persons of interest, described as “tech-savvy” juveniles, in connection with the case so far.

    Authorities have said they believe racism played a major factor in the crimes. “We welcome the hate crime investigation into these threats and the progress in identifying possible suspects,” said CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell. “Law enforcement agencies must take the persistent threat of anti-Black racism seriously.”

    Mitchell added that he’s confident that “these racist threats will strengthen HBCU’s resolve to continue doing their unique and important work.”CAIR also condemned similar bomb threats last month that targeted HBCUs.

    “Our community is better than this and Harris-Stowe deserves better than this,” LaTonia Collins Smith, the interim president of Harris-Stowe, stated.

    “What we really should be focusing on is how we can work collaboratively together in order to improve our community here in St. Louis.”

    Christopher Tinson, chair of the African American Studies program at St. Louis University, told St. Louis Public Radio that outsiders are often threatened by HBCUs.

    “I think Black autonomous spaces always represent a threat to some segment of our population, even though those spaces were needed precisely because of the threat,” Tinson said.
    He added that the people or organizations behind such threats want to disrupt the mental, physical and emotional safety of Black people.

    Further, he said that many African American students attend HBCUs to connect with Black culture and use its campuses as safe spaces to commune with peers and faculty members without being judged by their ideas or the color of their skin.

    St. Louis County NAACP President John Bowman said the bomb threats bring back haunting memories of bombings in Black communities during the civil rights era. “Many times, it was one of the tactics used to oppress Black people,” Bowman said.

    “Unfortunately, these threats and actions seem to be really heightened due to the rhetoric and divisiveness of some of our previous leaders, and they have continued to work to create this division among racial lines.”

  • Newswire: Supreme Court’s Alabama ruling sparks alarm over voting rights

    Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-AL7) comments on Supreme Court decision
    By Lisa Mascaro and Farnoush Amiri, Associated Press

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s decision to halt efforts to create a second mostly Black congressional district in Alabama for the 2022 election sparked fresh warnings Tuesday that the court is becoming too politicized, eroding the Voting Rights Act and reviving the need for Congress to intervene.
    The Supreme Court’s conservative majority put on hold a lower court ruling that Alabama must draw new congressional districts to increase Black voting power. Civil rights groups had argued that the state, with its “sordid record” of racial discrimination, drew new maps by “packing” Black voters into one single district and “cracking” Black voters from other districts in ways that dilute their electoral power. Black voters are 26% of Alabama’s electorate.

    In its 5-4 decision late Monday, the Supreme Court said it would review the case in full, a future legal showdown in the months to come that voting advocates fear could further gut the protections in the landmark Civil Rights-era law.
    It’s “the latest example of the Supreme Court hacking away at the protections of the voting rights act of 1965,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the Judiciary Committee. “Congress must act. We must restore the Voting Rights Act.”
    The outcome all but ensures Alabama will continue to send mostly white Republicans to Washington after this fall’s midterm elections and applies new pressure on Congress to shore up voter protections after a broader elections bill collapsed last month. And the decision shows the growing power of the high court’s conservative majority as President Joe Biden is under his own pressures to name a liberal nominee to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.
    Rep. Terri Sewell, the only Black representative from Alabama, said the court’s decision underscores the need for Congress to pass her bill, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, to update and ensure the law’s historic protections.
    “Black Alabamians deserve nothing less,” Sewell said in a statement.
    The case out of Alabama is one of the most important legal tests of the new congressional maps stemming from the 2020 census count. It comes in the aftermath of court decisions that have widely been viewed as chiseling away at race-based protections of the Voting Rights Act.
    Alabama and other states with a known history of voting rights violations were no longer under federal oversight, or “preclearance,” from the Justice Department for changes to their election practices after the court, in its 2013 Shelby v. Holder decision, struck down the bill’s formula as outdated.
    As states nationwide adjust their congressional districts to fit population and demographic data, Alabama’s Republican-led Legislature drew up new maps last fall that were immediately challenged by civil rights groups on behalf of Black voters in the state.
    Late last month, a three-judge lower court, which includes two judges appointed by former President Donald Trump, had ruled that the state had probably violated the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting the political power of Black voters. This finding was rooted, in part, in the fact that the state did not create a second district in which Black voters made up a majority, or close to it.
    Given that more than one person in four in Alabama is Black, the plaintiffs had argued the single Black district is far less than one person, one vote.
    “Black voters have less opportunity than other Alabamians to elect candidates of their choice to Congress,” the three-judge panel wrote in the 225-page ruling.
    The lower court gave the Alabama legislature until Friday to come up with a remedial plan.

    Late Monday, the Supreme Court, after an appeal from Alabama, issued a stay. Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito, part of the conservative majority, said the lower court’s order for a new map came too close to the 2022 election.
    Chief Justice John Roberts joined his three more liberal colleagues in dissent.
    “It’s just a really disturbing ruling,” said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., a member of the Judiciary Committee, who called the Supreme Court’s decision “a setback to racial equity, to ideals of one person, one vote.”
    Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, and the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the decision “hits at the guts of voting rights.” She told The Associated Press: “We’re afraid of what will happen from Alabama to Texas to Florida and even to the great state of Ohio.”
    White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the court decision exposes the need for Congress to legislate to protect voting rights. The erosion of those rights is “exactly what the Voting Rights Act is in place to prevent.”
    Critics went beyond assailing the decision at hand to assert that the court has become political.
    “I know the court likes to say it’s not partisan, that it’s apolitical, but this seems to be a very political decision,” said Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., tweeted that the court majority has “zero legitimacy.”

    Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., tweeted that the court’s action was “Jim Crow 2.0.”
    Alabama Republicans welcomed the court’s decision. “It is great news,” said Rep. Mo Brooks who is running for the GOP nomination for Senate. He called the lower court ruling an effort to “usurp” the decisions made by the state’s legislature.
    The justices will at some later date decide whether the map produced by the state violates the voting rights law, a case that could call into question “decades of this Court’s precedent” about Section 2 of the act, Justice Elena Kagan wrote in dissent. Section 2 prohibits racial and other discrimination in voting procedures.
    Voting advocates see the arguments ahead as a showdown over voting rights they say are being slowly but methodically altered by the Roberts court.
    The Supreme Court in the Shelby decision did away with the preclearance formula under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. And last summer, the conservative majority in Bronvich vs. the Democratic National Committee upheld voting limits in an Arizona case concerning early ballots that a lower court had found discriminatory under Section 2.
    With the Alabama case, the court is wading further into Section 2 limits over redistricting maps.
    Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Chris England, who is a member of the Alabama Legislature from Tuscaloosa, said he fears the Supreme Court’s action will reverberate and embolden other GOP-controlled states.
    “If this was the epicenter of the earthquake, the tremors are going to be felt in state legislatures, city councils and county commissions — all of which are currently going through some form of redistricting right now,” said England.