Karlapalem Decries Supreme Court’s Death Blow to Black Voting Rights

From the Karlapalem campaign

June 3

“Parker Moore and every Republican in Montgomery helped build this. Every decent Alabamian should be outraged and vote them out on November 3.”

MADISON, Alabama – Hanu Karlapalem, Democratic nominee for Alabama House District 4, today decried the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing Alabama to discard its court-ordered congressional map and use a Republican-drawn plan that federal courts repeatedly found to be racially discriminatory.

The 2nd Congressional District seat was not a handout. It was won through years of court battles, grassroots organizing, and the courage of Black voters who refused to be made invisible. Shomari Figures earned that seat and that history. Tuesday’s ruling moves to take it away.

Tuesday’s 6-3 ruling, handed down by the right-wing majority on the nation’s highest court, strips Alabama of its second Black congressional district. It erases a historic milestone achieved by the voters of this state just two years ago. In 2024, Shomari Figures made history by becoming Alabama’s second Black congressional representative, joining Rep. Terri Sewell. Today’s ruling puts that seat directly at risk.

“I stood with Rep. Shomari Figures on January 3, 2025 inside the Capitol building in DC when Shomari took the oath of office. This is a death blow to Black voting rights in Alabama, delivered by an unelected, right-wing majority on the SCOTUS,” Karlapalem said. “Alabama fought for years, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and won the right to fair representation. Today, that victory was stolen.”

Karlapalem was present in the Alabama Statehouse galleries earlier this year when the Republican supermajority, including his opponent Parker Moore, voted for SB1 and HB1, a package of voter suppression bills that civil rights leaders have called Jim Crow 2.0.

“Parker Moore voted for Jim Crow 2.0. He stood in that chamber and made it easier to strip Alabamians of their vote. Today, the Supreme Court finished what he and his colleagues started,” Karlapalem said. “Parker Moore does not represent District 4. He represents the machine that is dismantling our representative democracy, one vote at a time.”

Alabama’s Black voters make up 27 percent of the state’s population. For decades, they were confined to a single congressional district. It took years of litigation, two trips to the Supreme Court, and a federal court order to achieve basic fairness, only to have it wiped out today by the same six justices who gutted the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais just weeks ago. “The notion that racial bigotry has faded into Alabama’s past is contradicted by the harsh reality of its voting records. Black people in Alabama do not win statewide races, or local races except in districts where they constitute a majority or substantial minority. The obvious truth is that White Alabamians just don’t vote for Black Alabamians. Destroying those few districts where they can get elected means that the circumstances, the needs, and the hopes of Black people will have an even smaller voice in Alabama government than they do now. Black people do not experience Alabama the way White people do. Their story needs to be told from inside our government institutions. The Supreme Court has made that much less likely,” said Kenneth Hines, a former Chairman of the Limestone County Democratic Party and a White man.

“The SCOTUS, which is supposed to protect the rights of its citizens is allowing Alabama to intentionally discriminate and dilute the votes of African Americans. My challenge to each voter who believes in equal protection under the law and the US Constitution is to educate yourself on the candidates and to show up at the polls on August 11 and Nov 3. There is a saying, if you don’t use it, you will lose it and our voting rights are slowly being eroded away, so let’s use our vote while we still have it,” said Lt. Col. Benard Simelton, USAF (Retired), a former President of the NAACP Alabama State Conference and a Black man.

“The Alabama Republican supermajority’s naked grab for more power should make every decent Alabamian angry and vote them out,” Karlapalem said. “Black Alabamians. White Alabamians. Every Alabamian who believes in the Constitution and in equal representation under the law. This is not a partisan issue. It is a moral one.” Karlapalem said.

Karlapalem is a Life Member of the NAACP and a Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate. He has made constitutional integrity a centerpiece of his campaign. His governing principles, Economy First, People First, Constitution First, reflect his conviction that the law must protect all citizens equally.

“My loyalty is to the Constitution, not to kings, not to special interests, not to any party above the law,” said Karlapalem. “On November 3, every decent Alabamian has the opportunity to answer Tuesday’s ruling. Defeat every Republican on the ballot, including my opponent Parker Moore, and send a message that Alabama’s future belongs to all of us.”

“Tuesday’s ruling does not exist in isolation,” Karlapalem said. “The same Republican supermajority that enabled this death blow voted for HB1 to suppress your vote, pushed SB21 to attack the Fourteenth Amendment, declared war on our public education from our classrooms to college campuses, and has refused to address the affordability crisis, which is crushing North Alabama families.” Karlapalem said.

We will defeat the Republican supermajority on November 3 and build an Alabama we can afford, lower costs, stronger public schools, real healthcare. Hanu will continue to fight for every Alabamian, by birth or by choice.

— Hanu Karlapalem, Democratic Nominee, Alabama State House District 4

Hanu Karlapalem is a Madison, Alabama resident of 26 years, small technology business owner, UAH M.S. graduate, and Life Member and former Second Vice President of the Limestone County NAACP.

He has been on the frontlines fighting against hate and bigotry, for voting rights and freedoms, and to protect our democracy and the Constitution. He has been married for 31 years and has deep roots in the North Alabama community through civic, professional, and community service. He is the Democratic nominee for Alabama State House District 4 in the November 3, 2026, general election.

For more information: https://www.hanu4alabama.com