This week on Capitol Journal, more court rulings and more confusion over Alabama's congressional district line and state Senate district lines.

Alex Angle will get us up to spee on the latest from Washington.

A state commission is taking a hard look at artificial intelligence and its impact on children.

Jeff Sanders has that story, and Randi Scott has the latest from the Governor's Rural Health Care Transformation Task Force, which held meetings around the state this week.

And joining us in studio Attorney General Steve Marshall explains the latest with congressional map litigation.

Now before the Supreme Court and Congressman Shomar figures offers his perspective as the representative of the distric most impacted by the litigation and a special treat this week with Boys State in town, the newly elected governor and lieutenant governor join us to share their experience with the program.

That's all next on Capitol Journal.

Is from our state House studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacy, welcome to Capitol Journal.

Well, another week, another round of court rulings on Alabama's congressional districts and state senate districts.

A federal court this week blocked Alabama from moving forward with a congressional map.

More friendly to Republicans.

The three judge panel in North Alabama ordered the state to again use a map that it previously mandated for this election year.

The state quickly appealed tha ruling to the US Supreme Court.

Capitol Journal's Alex Angle reports from Washington on the latest in this redistricting saga.

On Tuesday, a three judge panel dealt a major blo to Alabama's Republican efforts to use a congressional map that would likely flip one of the seats from blue to red in this year's elections.

But one day later, the state asked the Supreme Court to pause that ruling.

The court battle centers around the congressional map adopted by the legislature in 2023.

A federal court in Alabam previously struck down that map for intentionally discriminating against black people.

That led to the current map consisting of two black opportunity districts.

And this week, the judges upheld that determination, even in light of a recen Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana that limited the use of race when drawing lines.

The district court found no one that the legislature had still engaged in intentiona racial discrimination in 2023, and that the evidence was overwhelming of that.

And the number two that we were also still likely to prove a violation of the Voting Rights Act.

Because the evidence, was, was so overwhelming, that it met the new, even more stringent standards of the Kelly case.

Da'vonne Roseboro, who represents the plaintiffs in the redistricting case says there are key differences between Alabama's case and the one in Louisiana.

What they did i 2023 was use a racial means, to to harm black Alabamians, whether or not there was some sort of political end at the other end.

But Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall says the new standards set in the Louisiana case should change the calculation in Alabama.

That' why he asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the lower court's ruling.

We think, again, the court inappropriately, has determined that Alabama has racial discrimination within its map itself, as opposed to what is the partizanship that you see going on around the country, including New England states in which they draw maps so that there's no Republican representation?

Work is already underway to pull off for special congressional primaries in August using the 2023 map.

If the High Court does not pause the lower court's ruling, the state will have to revert to the 2024 map, which could flip Alabama's elections on its head again this year.

Justice Clarence Thomas has asked that the plaintiffs respond to the state's reques for a stay by Monday afternoon.

Reporting in Washington Alex Engle, Capital Journal.

Thank you Alex.

And I'll talk in more detai about this issue with Attorney General Steve Marshal and Congressman Shamari figures.

Later in the show.

Also this week, a different court handed down a separate ruling concerning two state Senate districts.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta granted a stay, allowing the state to revert back to legislatively drawn maps for district 25 and 26.

Here in the Montgomery area, a lower court had previousl ruled that the legislature's map illegally dilute the influence of black voters.

But that was before the Supreme Court's Louisiana decision that scaled back parts of the Voting Rights Act.

This graphic show the two districts in question.

District 25 was originally drawn to include more of Elmore County and less of Montgomery and vice versa for district 26.

Now, under the court's ruling, they'll be that way again for this election.

Interestingly, the two senators representing those districts had opte to essentially switch districts.

Now they'll just switch back.

And in the wake of the court's ruling, Governor Kay Ivey this week called a special primary election for those two state senate districts to be held on August 11th.

That's the same date as these special primary elections calle for the congressional districts.

That's all changes.

You can be forgiven if you'r utterly confused by all of this.

The changing maps and multiple elections have lots of head spinning, such as the state of play under new Voting Rights Act jurisprudence, as determined in that Louisiana decision, and the aggressive push by both political parties to bolster their numbers in Congress.

We expect more litigation, but hopefully by next week, the US Supreme Court will rule on the congressional map and offer some finality.

Stay tuned for tha ruling by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

Switching gears, a legislative study commission is taking a closer look at how artificial intelligence is affecting children and what role state government may eventually play in regulating the rapid, evolving technology.

As lawmakers heard this week experts say the first challenge may be defining exactly what AI is befor trying to write laws around it.

Capital Journal's Jeff Sanders reports.

Training children and educating them.

Members of Alabama's Study Commission on Artificial Intelligence and Children's Safety me to hear from experts about both the opportunities and risk I may present for children.

Among them was Kevin Frazier, an AI innovation and law fellow at the University of Texas.

Kids these days, for lack of a better phrase, aren't leaning into AI for those emotionally sensitive contexts.

When we look at the most common use cases instead, it's a search for information.

It's assistance with schoolwork.

It's for fun or for entertainment.

And to get news in some contexts and even for casual conversation.

Frazier told lawmaker artificial intelligence can be a valuable tool in education and mental health services, but experts repeatedly stress that lawmakers must first understand and define the technology before attempting to regulate it.

Commission co-chair Representative Ben Robbins of Sylacauga says that's exactl where the conversation begins.

Artificial intelligence is evolving and growing so rapidly and fast that we don't even have the framework or the foundation to legislate it.

We have to defin it as it's used in the industry and where it might be going in a few years.

One of the biggest concerns discussed by the commission involves age verificatio requirements and how companies determine whether a user is indeed a child.

Rob 11 is the CE of the Transparency Coalition.

I don't think facia recognition is and is a primary way to, estimate age today.

In part because it is easy to spoof or fool or whatever.

Representative Robbins says lawmakers are also trying to understand how emerging technology is creating new avenues for dangers that have existed for generations.

No longer are you saying don't take candy from the stranger, because the candy from a stranger has now moved to another location and they're operating online?

Commission members are expected to continue their meetings over the next several months before making a final recommendation to lawmakers.

Reporting from the state House in Montgomery.

I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

Thank you Jeff.

Progres this week on the state's effort to support and save rural health institutions.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs hosted a meeting of the Governor's Rural Healt Care Transformation Task Force to help build interest and the more than $200 million the state will be providing in grants.

Capital journals Randy Scott reports.

What could you do with $200 million?

That's the questio facing many people in this room listening to members of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs as they explain updates to a new initiative known as the Rural Health Transformation Program.

It's mainly to inform them of the 11 initiatives that we ar that the state has in its plan and how they can actually learn more about what the plan is.

And those initiatives are meant to use, be used for a decade.

Director Kenneth Boswell says there's a big focus on health concerns, as well as possible job increases and technology improvements.

One of the things that we have been very proactive with over the last month is working with our consultant, CTC.

In being able to put together all of those locations in the rural state, parts of the state that already have the broadband capabilities, but also those that will be served in the next two years.

This will dive into Alabama's specific rural health transformation plan, including the 11 key initiatives, allowable uses of funds and some program timelines.

The list of 11 projects to be worked on is catching most of the attention, from stabilizing ObGyn services to increasing rural health initiatives, and also funding to create a rural health network.

For those of you who, we've been working for eight years, I think in the state with our broadband initiative and we have achieved a high level of success in deploying broadban throughout the state of Alabama.

We're not finished.

We still have work to do.

This also calls for new ways to help take care of healt care needs in rural communities.

For the last two years, we've operated a treat in place, service in the late Martin area.

Actually it's a rural health initiative where rather than transport people that are low acuity by ambulance, we have a pickup truck with a paramedi that actually treats in place.

Representative Ed Oliver hopes a new service put in place in the lat Martin community of his district will spread to other areas in Alabama.

The Rural Health Transformation Act, one of the 11 points the governor made in that was treaty in place, would be a part of that.

So we're going to expand tha statewide through this program.

Anytime there's money out there and the ability to either serve people better or either forge, pilot programs, if you will, or either build on things that you don't have.

It's an opportunity to build that foundation so you can it lives beyond that in Montgomery.

Randy Scott, Capitol Journal.

Thank you.

Randy.

This week here at the state House, the Bureau of Pardons and Paroles honored a state lawmaker for his work promoting the state's reentr efforts over the last two years.

Bureau Director Kim War recognized State Representative Parker Moore of Decatur, saying the young lawmaker has gone above and beyon to help the state make progress in reducing recidivism.

Before this bill was passed, there were several boards and commissions in Alabama who said, if you've been incarcerated for any reason, then you can't get a licens to do X, Y, Z work in Alabama.

Well that's silly.

There are common sense approach is one is you don't want a sex offender working in a daycare center.

No kidding.

But also at the same time, someone who wants to do cosmetology out of anger should be able to get a job without worrying about the stigma of the licensing board saying just because you've been incarcerated, you can't go to work anywhere.

I think the private sector should decide that a company, a business says I want to hire you or I don't.

What this legislation did.

It didn't require a company to hire anybody.

It just said, we're going to let companies decide their hiring practices and not let the government dictate arbitrary barriers to people wanting to get back into partnerships are truly what plays a factor in any and everything you do in government.

And nothing is possible without those relationships that are being built.

And I just want to say thank you to the Kam warden and all, who had the vision and the foresight to bring this legislation, to me.

And I am proud to play a part and, getting this legislation passed to help reduce recidivism and get gainful employment back to those, who want to b productive members of society.

We'l take a short break and be back with Attorney General Steve Marshall.

Stay with us.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online any time at Alabama Public Television's website.

aptv.. org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

You can also connect with Capital Journal and link to past episodes on Capital Journal's Facebook page.

From 1820 to 1826, Cahaba was the first capital of the state of Alabama.

The capital city was located at the convergence of the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers.

Because Governor William Wyatt Bibb had arranged for a free gift of land for that purpose from the federal government.

An ancient India earthwork was found on the site, so the governor reused it as a dramatic centerpiece for the town plan.

The sale of Lots and Cahaba built the state treasury for the new state and paid for the first state house.

Soon, the frontier capital had two newspapers numerous businesses, a theater, and nearly a thousand inhabitants.

Despite the loss of the capital to Tuscaloosa in 1826 as a county seat grew into one of the wealthiest communities in the nation and did not become a ghost tow until well after the Civil War.

Cahaba was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Today it is known as the Old Harbor Archeological Park.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Alabam Attorney General Steve Marshall.

Mr.

Marshall thanks for coming on the show.

Good to be with you, as always, a busy man.

A little bit, yeah.

Very litigious.

Obviously there was an election, and I'll get to that.

Toward the end of the interview.

But Alex reported earlier o just what's going on this week because we had the Northern district that three judge panel say not agree, with what, you know, the state allowing the state to proceed with those legislatively draw maps and no, we want you to go back to the court ordered maps from the special master.

You have appealed that ruling, to the Supreme Court, where you've seen some favorable rulings in this in the past.

Can you sum up what your argument is to the Supreme Court in your appeal?

Yeah.

Let's sort o go back to where we got started.

The Clay decision came out involving Louisiana, and we had the ability to support what Louisiana was doing to say is that race cannot be a factor in drawin those congressional districts.

Court ultimately approved of that argument, reversed what it took place in Louisiana, and then it gave us that vehicle to go back to the Supreme Court and say, don't treat Alabama any differently, that we are litigating that same battle.

We've been involved in this issue for quite some time.

Give us the opportunity to be in the same spot.

And so and you were successful.

We were in a very specific order that said, we're vacating the order that came originally from the three judge panel and remaining it back to that court in light of the Louisiana decision.

And so we had the opportunit to go back in front of the three judge panel.

But what we believe clearly did not take place is for that court to adequately follow the guidance the Supreme Court had given and to be able to evaluate Alabam in light of those new standards that apply to section two claims.

They wrote 100 page order relying upon experts wh testified in the previous case.

Although Clay sai you can't consider the evidence in the same way, and you have to particularly disentangle politics and race.

And I think fundamentally that's where we think the fight is with the three judge panel.

And why this appeal is so important is because we around the country legislature is evaluating how they're drawing maps under sor of the colors of red and blue.

When Alabama does the same thing that's viewed in black and white.

And we think, again, the court inappropriately, has determined that Alabama has racial discrimination within its map itself, as opposed to what is the partizanship that you see going on around the country, including New England states in which they draw maps so that there's no Republican representation, right.

And so your argument is that the map was drawn by Partizanship and not race, because I'm going back and thinking about this because the the map we're talking about, the 2024 legislatively drawn map was essentially an answer to the court.

It was.

And and my understanding was that they were trying to draw opportunity districts, just not quite as opportunistic, maybe as the court wanted, but didn't.

Didn't they use race?

Yeah.

I mean, let's back up.

You know, we initially had the 2021 map which the court invalidated.

And let's remember to that ma really goes back to the 1990s.

Small changes.

But yet it was a judicially created map which Alabama has been able to follow that ultimately is now invalidated by this three judge panel.

So we had as a response to things that the court want us to do, said black belt districts.

We need to keep greater intac in the map that they had in 2023 did that.

The other thing the legislature did with a specific finding in the legislation they adopted, is to say, for 50 years we've kept the Gulf Coast together, Mobile and Baldwin counties around surrounding counties have been kept together as a community of interest, and we want to be able to do that as well.

And then from those two fundamentals, everything else was drawn around it.

And so the fact that there was greater, minority voter populatio included in one of the districts that came about was just as a result of those two decisions the legislature made and the fact that we could ultimately still have A61 map not only is not violative of clay, but it also is reflective of this already legislatur to be able to draw for their own very specific reasons that otherwise don't violate section two.

We don't believe they acted in a way that's contrary.

We clearly believe this idea from the court and the map that they drew to create minority opportunity districts really is another way of being able to say, create another Democratic district in Alabama.

Section two doesn't require the Voting Rights Act, doesn't require proportional representation.

And we think that's ultimately a default.

The three judge panel is done not specifically saying it, but in fact has been much of a driver of that.

But yet you don't see any other state being held to that same standard.

And so while the legislature, you know, if they had more time, would we have a new map?

I think that's very conceivable.

But they defaulte to the 2033 map, and we believe that map itself is lawful.

Should they, in your opinion, because you were talking about seven.

Oh, and some of the rhetoric do you believe the legislature should have gone for that?

Seven oh, a map, because it would have been a whole new redistricting effort.

The legislature that I had speaker in here last week saying, look, they would have had hearings.

And now going through that process takes a lot of time.

But do you think that, legally it would have been more successful rather than reverting to the 2023 map?

Well, it would have restarted the clock on the litigation, you know, so that they would be looking at a new map as opposed t where the court had is a record for the 2023 map.

And look, timing is really been a significant question here.

You know, the legislature didn't have much of an opportunity to be able to figure out what they were going to d because of the limited window.

Give credit to the fact that we now as a result of the specia session, we're able to push back are the qualifying days, but also the primary dates so that we can even be able to litigate where we are.

But had Clay come out two months before, I think fully being able to draw a new map would have been in play.

Well, you and your statements have sounded pretty confident about the appeal to the Supreme Court.

What gives you that confidence?

What?

Why do you think you'll be successful?

In, in this appeal?

I think our confidence lies in not only what we have seen the court reflect in the Louisiana decision, but also in the fact that we're grounded very clearly in what the legislature did.

Being consistent with wha the standards that were set out in that new Supreme Court decision.

We feel confident in law.

I think the only limited that we have right no is the same thing I talked about earlier is timing and what that means.

And we could conceivably win, but we could win too late.

And I think that's one of the concerns.

Yeah, let's talk about that because reall from the start of this, it has it has caused a lot of confusion.

I mean, you saw some really historic lows in terms of turnout this last Tuesday.

Maybe it was that was a factor or other factors, but there's just confusion and there's a different election dates.

Now we've got a new ruling saying there's a lot of people wondering what in the world is going on.

So a question is, is it worth it?

Like, was all this, you know, trying to get one more seat for Republicans worth the kind of voter confusion that's reall not going to end for some time?

We still don't really know what's going on.

I mean, do you is it worth it to, to, you know, throw the electio into so much chaos and confusion just for one congressional seat?

You know, I think I think it's worth it to be able to stand on the legal principle that we've said all along, and that is that a federal court cannot overcom the authority of the legislature to draw the maps when they do it, consistent with traditional redistricting principles.

Album legislature did that in 2021.

They did it again in 2023.

And we think the courts nee to validate what they're doing.

And look, I'm going to stand behind our ability to get another conservative voice in Washington.

And that's reall what this fight is about right now, is allowing for there to be an additional Republican to be able to advance the interests of Alabamians in Congress.

Let's talk some practicalities, like what happens next?

Let's say that next week the Supreme Court rules in your favor.

Agrees with your appeal.

What happens next?

I mean, does the election go on as the state had planned and the legislature had planned and the governor had planned?

What happens if you win?

Yeah, I think it's a question of timing.

You know, right now we have justice Thomas has entered an order that's allowing for the plaintiffs to reply by 4 or 5, 4:00, I believe, on Monday of next week.

So we clearly will not see an order then.

And then we don't have any impact on the timing of the court after that.

And the question that really sort of comes into pla is the mechanics of an election, what the Secretary of State's office has to do, what individual all registrars have to do in the respective districts that are impacted, are they going to have the ability to do what they nee to do to be able to get people in the right districts so that we can carry out an election that is not only valid and people getting the right ballots, but be able to do it in a timely way.

And so that's really the ultimate question.

So we'd obviously love to be able to see a Supreme Court decision sooner than later.

But if we're able to succeed and I'm confident that we will win, do we get that win?

And is it allowing for the the Secretary of State's office to have a sufficient amount of time to be able to do what they're doing?

So we're all watching the clock.

They right now are evaluating with their vendors and others and what they have to do.

And we're hoping that the Supreme Court will act expeditiously.

And I really believe that in the ultimate success or not, of what we've put before the court, it's really about whether or not the cour feels like they have enough time to evaluate the arguments in light of the time constraints that we have if we're not successful.

Yeah, I don't think it's that.

I don't think it's going to be because our legal arguments aren't right.

I think it's just going to be the fact that we are at that point in time where we've just really run out of time.

So if if the opposite happens if the court essentially upholds what the Northern District three judge panel has done, what happens then is that, I mean, is that a situation where we revert yet again back to court, the the special master plan.

But there' there have to be a new primary.

I mean, there seems to be there would be a lot of additional confusion.

What happens if the if they uphold the ruling?

Yeah, I think the three judg panel ruling, itself obviously says use the map that we put in place, but they did not specifically order the results of the May 19th primary to control.

What I think that you would see is us be in that August 11th.

Timeframe for those four congressional districts, to be considered.

And don't forget, we still also have the appeal involving the two state senate districts.

I want to ask you about before the 11th Circuit and so they likewis are impacted by what's going on.

We have right now before the 11th circuit, a request to stay judg Minnesota's order in that case.

And so we're likewise awaiting that decision.

So any consideration for this town, there's a lot of rumors always about is there going to be another special session?

Do you see any kind of legal action from the court requiring the legislature to come back and fix this in any way?

I don't see the court directing them to come back.

I think it's a question of, are we using the 23 map that the legislature adopted, or are we using the special master's map tha the court adopted in this order?

Okay, a lot of questions.

Yeah, I appreciate your your explanation.

Look, I mentioned the election tough beat.

You just barely missed that that runoff threshold in your race for the U.S.

Senate.

I saw where you were thanking supporters.

I mean, you spent a year of your life, pursuing that.

So I know it's been disappointing, disappointing, but yet you know, remarkably gratifying, not only renewing relationships around Alabama, but seeing, so many new face and making so many new friends.

And the thing that probably was the most, encouraging was just the young people that were involved with us.

They care about the future of Alabama that were willing to invest in me and what we've done.

So, you know, wasn't something I look back and go, well that was a stupid decision run.

You know, we obviously wanted to offer something for the people of Alabama t serve the United States Senate.

They didn't choose me in that regard.

And we'll move on and continue to make sure that we're working har for the next seven months as AG.

Absolutely.

Well, thanks so much for your time as always, and we'll have you on again soon.

Look forward to it.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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Harpe Lee is best known as the author of one of the most affecting and widely read books of American literature, To Kill a mockingbird.

The native Alabamian drew deeply from her coming of age years in he small hometown of Monroeville.

The 1961 Pulitzer Prize winning novel explores the dimensions of prejudice, hate, loyalty and love through the eyes of a young girl as she awakens to the complexities of human nature and its capacity for both good and evil.

The film version of To Kill a mockingbird underscored the success of the novel with its own success.

Both novel and film continue to hold the public and academia's interests.

Lee was widely recognized throughout her life, including the presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 and the 2010 National Medal of Arts.

You're watching Alabama public television.

Broaden your horizons.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Alabama's second district.

Congressman Shamari figures.

Congressman, thanks for making the time.

Thank you.

Thanks for having us, man.

Well, I know that when we talked yesterda trying to get you on the show, you're actually on the road.

You're on an a family road trip on the way to Washington.

So I appreciate yo taking the time from the road.

Absolutely, man.

We always want to make time to, to join Capital Journal where we can.

And we take the kids up to DC for an extended amount of time during the summer.

And they got out of school last week.

And so we began the trek up here, a couple days ago.

Well, look.

Big week.

Lots going on, rulings coming down.

A lot has happened over the next the last couple of months in terms of the congressional map, where the district lines are you representing the second district?

Your district is most impacted by all these changes that are going on.

I just talked with the attorne general about his perspective.

He's obviously appealing tha three judge panel, injunction.

I wanted to get your perspectiv because you have a unique one.

Obviously, you represent that district.

So you've got a dog in the fight in terms of that.

But you also, part of your legal career was at the Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Division.

So you're you're familiar with these issues.

So I wanted to get your perspective on.

I mean, you can go bac to Carla, the Louisiana decision and all these other rulings that have happened.

What is your perspective on just how much the jurisprudence has changed as it comes to redistricting in the last couple of months?

Well, first of all, thanks for having us, Todd.

Look, the the Kelly decision or the Louisiana case as as a lot of people refer to i as it made significant changes to what is necessary to prov a Voting Rights Act violation, in the context of a case involving redistricting or, you know, how states draw their lines.

You know, before that case came down, you could point to historical evidence, you could point to, other or other types of evidence to be able to show that the states had drawn lines in a way that purposely drew out or excluded, black voters or minority voters, into a particular district so as to minimize their ability to influence multiple, districts.

Post, Kelly, you know, the they really up the standard here and basically said, hey, if states tell us that they did this for political reasons, we don't care what the racial outcome or how discriminatory the racial outcomes may seem, as long as they tell us they did it for a political reason, as long as they told us that they were doing it to get rid of Democrats.

Then it's okay.

And that is a significant change.

That is a significant change in all of this, because, as you know, in the state of Alabama, and as was necessary under previous, Voting Rights Act litigation is we have a history of what they call racially polarized voting, which means that black people typically vote for, a certain candidate and white voters typically vote for for non black candidates in this in the state.

And so, you know, it really makes it difficult to prove.

But it does not eliminate.

It does not get rid of it.

And in fact, you know I think the most important thing to come out of that Louisiana decision as it relates to Alabama is the fact that the Supreme Court said that, you know, essentially after five years of litigating this case in Alabama, Alabama never even made the argument that they did this for political reasons.

So some big difference between Louisiana and Alabama.

Yeah.

You know, but didn't we need some clarity from the court?

I'm thinking back to, multiple redistricting efforts where the folks drawing the maps expressed confusion about, okay, you've got the Voting Rights Act and especially the mandate to create opportunity districts and things like that.

But you also got the 14th amendment in terms of, you know, no discriminatory policies and things like that.

Folks always sometimes argue those those are in conflict.

And then the court was trying to offer clarity in terms of what's, you know, what's right in that regard.

Do you think the court all in LA offered states some of that clarit as it, comes to redistricting?

No, I don't I mean, the, the Voting Rights Act and, you know, claim brought under the Voting Rights Act and claims brought under the 14th amendment, although they can be used to address, you know, ultimately the same types of actions, they are distinctly different in terms of, you know, what the law requires how they heard, how many judges actually hear them, how the appeals work afterwards.

But at the end of the day, look, the Voting Rights Act has been in place since the late 60s, and it has provided an avenue for significant progress in terms of allowing the opportunity for minoritie to actually have representation.

And again, that the thing to keep in mind about this is that it's not about a guarantee or a fixed result or a a promised outcome That's never what it was about.

What it was about was creating a legitimat opportunity, preventing states or preventing political partie from being able to isolate and, in effect, make the vote of minorities, meaningless, because we were promised more than just the right to physically walk into a ballot box and push a button.

We have a constitutional promise to have a meaningful vote.

Have the opportunit for your vote to have meaning.

And so, you know, I think the Voting Rights Act is certainly necessary.

The 14th amendment is certainly necessary.

And this decision, I don't think, provided the clarity what it did provide clarity to what states, in terms of defend against it, it basically laid ou a roadmap of say, hey, you know, just tell us you did it for to get rid of Democrats.

Then everything will be okay.

You know fortunately for us in Alabama, they never, you know, in five years of litigation, they never said that they did it to get rid of Democrats.

But at the end of the day, going forward, the biggest impact of this case is, you know, no state is going to be dumb enough, to not raise that.

They did this for political reasons, regardless of what the underlying racial motives are.

Well, we are once again waiting on the Supreme Court.

Maybe they'll rul as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.

I think everybody involved wants them to rule quickly to figure out, you know, what this election is going to be all about.

But what are you hearing?

Again?

I talked to Attorney General Marshall.

He expressed some confidence in the state's position.

I wonde about your level of confidence.

Do you think they will uphold the the three judge panel's injunction?

Do you think they'll have more to say?

I mean, going back to their origina order as it pertains to Alabama?

The majority didn't say anything, right?

They didn't have any explanation.

Do you do you expect the court to have more of an explanation as it comes to this?

They're deciding this injunction or I don't know.

What are you hearing?

What do you expect?

Well, I don't thin we'll get that in this decision.

The important thing to keep in mind about what's before the Supreme Court now, wher we're expecting to get a result back, is just on the preliminary injunction that the three judge panel just put back in place.

So, essentially, what's before them right now is for this upcoming election until in November.

Are we going to use the map that I currently represent, the one that I was elected to last year?

Or are we going to use the map that the state legislature, mandated that we use when they went into the special session a couple weeks ago?

And so that's the the sort of singular question before the court right now.

After the Louisiana decision, the court did something that we fully expected.

They sent the case back down to the lower court.

They said, hey in light of what we just decided in this Louisiana case, reconsider.

And the court just did a preliminary reconsideration, and they said, hey, we don't think anything will change.

So therefore we're going to order that we use the map that is currently in place, from 2024.

And that is what the state is appealing now saying, nope, we want to use this other map.

And so I think the Supreme Court's holding will be for their decision rather.

And this upcoming, this upcoming week hopefully will be limited to just that question.

Do you use the maps for 2024 or do we use the state legislature map?

Then the case will come back down to the three judge panel again, for them to conduct the full review.

The full reconsideration, before they make a final decision that will again be appealed to the Supreme Court, but that won't likely take place where at least, at least a year or so is my expectation.

Well, it must be weird or difficult to, to be representing a district and running for reelectio when everything is so in flux.

Right.

The district lines keep changing.

We're not sure what's actually going to be, on the ballot and or when.

And so talk about that, not just as a candidate, obviously, that matters, but as a congressman, as somebody representing a district when the district lines seem to keep changing now.

Absolutely.

And we've already qualified to do that because we had to qualify under the, the new legislative map that they would like to use, by last Friday.

And we did that, and that is a district that includes eight of the 13 counties that are currently represent.

And so it's a district that I'm very familiar with, very familiar with the people very familiar with the issues, the institutions, the th businesses, the churches, the, the schools, just very, you know, familia with a lot of what's going on.

And the majorit of even this newly constructed district, it does pick up some more, traditionally conservativ counties, the Houston counties.

Dale, you know, Henry Geneva, coffee counties and a little bit of Covington as well.

But nevertheless, it's a district that we're very much so familiar with and we're committed to, you know, to to sticking it out.

I got in this fight to be a voice for, not just, you know, the people, back home where I'm from in mobile, but to be a voice for this district and to be a voice for the state of Alabama, in terms of providing the type of representation that many communities feel tha they have historically lacked.

And we're committed to that, as committed to that today as we were the day we go in this race, a few years ago.

Yeah, it it voters out there could be forgiven for being pretty confused about this whole situation.

That is fair.

Fair statement.

Look, Congressman, thanks for making the time.

I'll let you get back t your road trip with your family and I. We'll see you back here in Montgomery soon.

All right.

Thanks.

We'll be right back.

Born Henry Louis Aaron on February 5th, 1934, in mobile.

Baseball icon Hank Aaron first honed his baseball skills while growing up in Alabama.

He is best known for breaking Bab Ruth's record of 714 home runs, ultimately hitting 755, a record that stood from 1974 to 2007.

During his career, Aaron was a member of the Milwaukee and then Atlanta Braves for 21 seasons and made the National League All-Star team every year from 1955 to 1974.

He won three Gold Glove Awards for outfielder, and his lifetime records for most runs batted in and most extra base hits still stand.

Aaron was elected to th Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982, with 97.8% of the votes cast in 2002.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Each year, rising high school seniors from across Alabama gather for Boys State a weeklong program that trains young men in civic involvement through hands on experience.

Today, Boys state attendees are here in the capital city, interacting with state officials from the governor and cabinet secretaries.

And I'm pleased to be joined by this year's boys state governor, William Ellard and Lieutenant Governor Will Burgess.

Gentlemen thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you for having us Absolutely.

And congratulations.

It's a big deal to be elected governor.

Be elected lieutenant governor.

Let me ask y'all, what's this week been like?

William, I'll start with you.

It's been fun.

And difficult.

But I would say that it falls and see what the motto of boys say a week that shapes a lifetime.

Because I've learned so much about what being a leader is like.

It's so hard.

It's so difficult.

And there's.

It sounds like it may be something that's fun or exciting but at the end of the day, it's it's really an awesome burden.

Yeah.

And by the end of the week, I'm sure you're pretty tired too.

And, so let me ask you what, what's your week been like?

My week has been a prett amazing experience all around.

We got here, Sunday and had a pretty quick orientation day.

Got separated into our cities, in the city six, the city of Jeffrey.

And originally I wanted to run for governor, but three people, before I got moved into my room came out to me and asked m to vote for them for governor.

So I decided to go for lieutenant governor, and it worked out great.

I was in the Federalist Party.

And actually, because I'm visually impaired and the previous lieutenant governor was also visually impaired as a guard dog.

So it's now two years in a row.

We've had Legally Blond Lieutenant Governor's album, Boise State.

Yeah, and I met him.

We had him on the show last week.

No pressure because they went on to the Boys Nation and did pretty well up there.

So no, no pressure on that.

Look what led you.

I'm curious about this because I went to Boise State back in the early 2000, and it was kind of random, like, a state senator told me to pack my bags, and two days later, I was in Montevallo.

I know it was in Tuscaloosa this year.

So what led y'all to attend Boise State?

It come about through friends or or those who had been involved with the program.

I would say for me, my my school definitely pushes it on to some of, some of the high achieving students at our school, Auburn High School, and they, they how it works.

Auburn High School is they the teacher nominate and vote on students.

And I was honored to have a nominatio that was voted on to come here.

But I wanted to come her since ninth grade because I've learned about it from my parents and, elder mentors and friends.

So I've been looking forward to this for a long time now.

Absolutely.

Well, we'll get you involved.

Well, my dad went to Bois State, I'm not sure that year.

And then several years ago, my older sister went to Girl State and she actually won Secretary of Agriculture.

And it was in Troy that year.

And she came back just having said it was one of the greatest experiences of her life.

And so the school I was at in the latter half of my education, the Alabama School for the blind, has not nominated a boy for Boise State ever.

They had nominated a girl for Girls State, and it had been a ba experience, is what I was told.

And so they had not really been pushing this kind of thing on people, but they didn't, however, nominate me for this.

You are Brown youth leadership Conference for Hoby in Troy last year, an that one is for rising juniors.

And because of my sister having gone, had advocated for several years that when the time came I wanted to come to Boise State.

And so I was able to be nominated, IDB, which is the organization the other Institute for the Deaf and Blind, which runs ASP, has had a, freeze on writing checks for several weeks because of some financial difficulties.

So the it was actually till about three days before I came here with that.

I actually had my nomination paid for, and we did.

And we thought I was good for that.

So it was skin of the teeth type deal.

And I came in here and now, you didn't governor.

And I think it's been a pretty good deal.

Yeah, well, maybe that'll maybe that'll change through your experience.

You know, maybe the school would be more eager to, to send folks, but I'm.

I'm curious about your campaign.

Campaign platforms.

Because you're right.

You're not separatin the parties, not Partizan, but, you know, different kind of parties.

What did you campaign?

What were your platforms for running for governor?

I'll start with you, William.

So first off the the way that you win at Boys State is you get around, you shake everybody's hand, you know everybody's name, you work hard.

I mean, for the first three days Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.

I did not eat much gas because during Baldy, as we call it, breakfast, lunch and dinner, I was I wasn't at my table.

I was walking around talking and meeting everyone.

So I think that was the mos important part of the campaign.

And just genuinely listening to people and their concerns.

But some of the things I ran on when I would talk to people, ask, how can I earn your vote?

And I said, well, tell me your platform.

So I'll tell them four things fixing rural health care.

I focused on insurance premiums because currently rural hospitals, when they're getting paid by Medicaid or Medicare or sometimes or the private insuranc companies, a lot of the times, what they're reimbursed at, it doesn't fully cover their costs and their operating at a deficit.

So I wanted to address that.

And then fixing crime, album is ranked.

Many of our cities are ver highly on national crime list, so I try to do a multi-pronged approach by taking down gang violenc with a racketeering and corrupt organizations bill, starting more programs in schools to ensure that students in citie that are ranking high on crime, they have a future opportunity instead of going to a life of crime.

And, so that was big on I ran a big on crime, stopping crime and then fixing education.

I wanted to copy a lot of what Mississippi did with their Mississippi miracle.

I was talking, and I was like, maybe we could be the Alabama Anomaly or, I don't know what it could be, but, something along those lines.

And then the I think one thing that was a little bit more populist, if you want, if you want to call it that, because that's sort of the mood at Boys State is, ensuring that I data centers don't come to Alabama to take water or hike of electricity bills and people that people thought that resonated with them.

Yeah.

Interesting how that, kind of mirrors what a lot of the discussion that we have here in the stat House, we have here, you know, at the, at the real government level.

And yeah, I'll talk to you more about that, that, Alabama Literacy Act and all that.

After the show, I can hear people saying, we did it.

We have we've don the same thing in Mississippi.

Well, what about you?

What did you campaign on?

So, yeah.

So just quickly to go over the kind of election and campaign process at Boys State, you are divided into cities.

So I was in city six and then each, set of two number is in a county, so five and six are in Jones County at Boys State.

And then you are split into everyone.

All 504 people at Boys State are split into parties.

So there's a Federalist party and there's a nationalist party, and me and the governor both.

And I'll actually everyone, every elected official except one, we're all in the Federalist Party.

So then you you get a form of candidacy, you fill it out, you turn it in and you put on the ballot, and you do a primary, and then you're nominated, you do a debate, and then the general election happens on Wednesday because you get there Sunday.

So my personal campaign motto was for you.

And the for was an acronym.

It stood for fellowship, organization, reliability.

And when we got into the debates, several things came up, such as agriculture and how to balance urban development with maintaining agriculture.

And I mentioned specifically how Limestone County, north of Huntsville or Athens is limestone County is the fastest growing county in Alabama.

It's like the 16th fastes growing county in the country, period.

But it's also the largest agriculture producing county in the whole state.

And so it's a flashpoint for that issue.

The lottery was very popular, like, extremely.

So, Boys State always is.

Yeah.

I touch on the lottery real quick.

So that was that was one of the questions that I had in our governor's debate.

There were some very tough questions.

That's part of the process for both Will and I. We had to do a debate with, opposition, the nationalist, governor and lieutenant governor.

And one of the questions is about the lottery and how we would go through doing that because, well, while we don't have one right now, because in 1999, the people of Alabama voted no in the referendum.

Yep.

So I, I campaigned on I would let the Hous and the Senate vote one or vote one through and give it to the people.

And if the people wanted it, then we could have won.

And, I said that if we were to have one, then we should have a 30% tax on the winnings to give 15% of the winnings to, education and 50% to rural health care to hel with those insurance premiums.

But because the reason I did like that is because when you look at the reasons that the lottery was denied in 1999, a lot of it falls on a it seems like an extra ta on the on the poor of the state or it, it's not as beneficial as it could be to the people that really need it.

So that's why I try to ensur that those dollars would go to where it absolutely needs to go.

Interesting.

Yeah.

Like I said, these are the real issues that come up every year in the legislature.

So that's, that's that's really interesting.

Well, look I want to put you on the spot.

Now ask what u because you're rising seniors.

Right.

So you're about to enter your senior year.

What plans are you developing for after high school?

Well, I'll start with you.

just a quic diatribe, quick background.

So, a couple weeks ago, I paged for one of my senators, Senator West.

Catch.

And it was.

It was an amazing experience.

So, there we talked about a lot of legislative opportunities.

And so, got the idea and kind of been planning to at some point, intern for, Congressman Aderholt and I plan to go to Auburn University.

I'd be a legacy there.

And, because of boys, because of this election that we won, we get scholarships to Auburn and Alabama both.

So I plan to be some mixture of a political science or agriculture major at Auburn and find some balance between those two industries and hopefully make a career out of that.

Very cool, very cool.

William.

Well I'll I'll candidly say that the the University of Alabama is just trying to get rid of come there.

And they're really great at recruiting.

But I don't know where I'm going yet.

I would be probably the first, first my family ever go to Alabama.

So it is a little bit of a step if I decided to go there.

He lives in Auburn.

I do I do live in Auburn.

Thank you to Senator Jovi and Joe Lover.

But I'm not quite sure yet.

Yeah, well, that's okay.

And, yeah, I mean, there's a reason why these college campuses compete to have boys state and girls state, because you've got the best and the brightest right there on campus.

And it's just a I mean, they they want you they want you to com and I, I bet I can tell you that it's not going to stop.

You're going to hear from a lot of colleges, because of the leadership you've shown and the fact that you've demonstrated, you know, an eagerness to participate in the civic process, it's so important.

I'm so proud of you guys and all of your friends and colleagues, for stepping up and doing it.

And so you're you're to be commended.

Congratulations.

And, thanks again for sharing your stories with us.

Of course.

Thank y'all for having us.

Absolutely.

Yes, sir.

We'll be right back.

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DeKalb County natives Charlie and IRA Loudermilk, better know as the Louvin Brothers, created some of the most impressive country music of the 1950s in both their lyrical and musical approach.

The Levins helped forg a link between country music's rustic roots and its movement toward urban sophistication, influencing young singers in both the country and popular music genres with their intricate harmonies and stellar musicianship.

The Levines were as adept at writing and singing heart wrenching songs like I Wish It Had Been a Dream as they were, with humorous tunes like cash on the Barrel Head.

They received numerous honors, among them their induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1979.

The Alabama music Hall of Fame in 1991, and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

As songwriters, singers, and musicians, the Louvin Brother excelled as all out performers and rightfully remain lauded as country music legends.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online any time at Alabama Public Television's website.

aptv.. org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

You can also connect with Capital Journal and link to past episodes o Capital Journal's Facebook page.

That's our show for this week.

Thanks for watching.

We'll be back next week at the same time with more Capitol Journal right here on Alabama Public Television for our Capital Journal team.

I'm Todd Stacy.

We'll see you next time.