“The court explained that the challenged at-large electoral systems had been created against the backdrop of Alabama’s ‘unrelenting historical agenda, spanning from the late 1800s to the 1980s, to keep its black citizens economically, socially, and politically downtrodden, from the cradle to the grave.’”
—U.S. District Judge John D. Bates
Shelby County v. Holder, September 21, 2011