Thursday, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) came out in fierce opposition to a three-judge federal panel’s decision to invalidate Alabama’s congressional map on the grounds that it likely violates the Voting Rights Act.
The court’s order directed the Alabama Legislature to redraw the congressional map to create an additional minority-majority district. Attorney General Steve Marshall has filed an emergency motion to block the court’s order while the state prepares to appeal the ruling.
Brooks in a statement blasted the judges’ decision, citing that the constitutional authority to determine election law rests within the legislative branch rather than the judiciary.
“It’s a bad day for Alabama when liberal, activist federal judges discard a Congressional district map drawn by Alabama’s elected legislators,” stated Brooks. “These liberal, activist federal judges undermine Article 1, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution by interjecting themselves into the redistricting process. Article 1, Section 4’s Election Clause states legislatures and Congress, not federal judges, are empowered to and responsible for making laws relating to the ‘times, places, and manner’ of elections.”
He added, “The Alabama Legislature has spoken. These liberal, activist federal judges should respect the Constitution and the will of the Alabama people as expressed by their duly elected legislators. These liberal, activist judges should back off and back out.”
According to Brooks, the court’s decision stood in conflict with the constructs of the 15th Amendment. The North Alabama congressman alleges that the ruling was unconstitutional due to what he asserted to be its race-based premise.
“Alabama and federal judges should reject, not promote, racism. Yet the entire federal court order is premised on the argument that different parts of Alabama should elect Congressmen based on whether they are white or black,” he continued. “This division of Alabama along racial lines is repugnant, perpetuates racism, and violates the 15th Amendment, which states, ‘The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.’”
Brooks concluded, “I yearn for the day that racism is in America’s past. The only way that will happen is for Americans, and in particular federal judges, to reject racism by making decisions that do not divide Americans based on skin pigmentation, a characteristic over which none of us have any control. I thank Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall for rejecting this illegal usurpation of power by liberal, activist federal court judges and pray that he will be successful in reversing this judicial abuse on appeal.”
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
