Alabama: legislative leaders intervene to protect districting plans
The Mobile Register reports: The two top lawmakers of each branch of the Alabama Legislature sought Friday to intervene as defendants in a lawsuit challenging the state's legislative boundaries and asked a judge to toss out the complaint.
A group of voters in southwest Alabama filed the lawsuit in federal court in Mobile last month, claiming the state's redistricting plan illegally diluted their influence by packing them into overly populous districts.
The plan, according to the complaint, was an attempt by the Democrat-controlled Legislature to benefit Democrats by stuffing as many Republican voters as possible into as few legislative districts as possible. ...
Senate President Pro Tem Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, and House Speaker Seth Hammet, D-Andalusia, filed paperwork Friday asking to be recognized as defendants. State Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, also sought to intervene.
The lawmakers argued they were better equipped to defend the interests of the two groups with the most to lose from a challenge to the district lines -- the majority of Democrats in the Legislature and black voters, who vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. Sanders is a member of the Black Legislative Caucus. -- State legislative leaders want redistricting suit to be tossed
Disclosure and note: I am one of the attorneys representing Speaker Seth Hammett. This article appeared on Saturday.