Last month, a 3-judge U.S. District Court in Alabama invalidated the state’s U.S. House district plan, and ordered the legislature to draw new districts. That decision also moved the primary filing deadline from January 28 to February 11.
But then on February 7, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed that order, without mentioning anything about the filing deadline. Therefore, the deadline is not clear. Jeff Coleman, a Republican who wants to run for U.S. House in the Second District, filed for the Republican primary on February 10, which was one day before the deadline ordered by the U.S. District Court. The Republican Party and the Secretary of State are not accepting his filing because they think it was late, even though it was in accordance with a court order. This news story says Coleman has filed a federal lawsuit over the matter. When more details about this lawsuit are found, they will be posted here.
SCOTUS takes up AL gerrymander / VRA cases—
21-1086 ) MERRILL, AL SEC. OF STATE, ET AL. V. MILLIGAN, EVAN, ET AL.
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21-1087 ) MERRILL, AL SEC. OF STATE, ET AL. V. CASTER, MARCUS, ET AL.
These cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is
allotted for oral argument. The question presented in these
cases is: Whether the District Courts in these cases correctly
found a violation of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act,
52 U. S. C. ยง10301.