MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama on Friday refused to create a second majority-Black congressional district, a move that could defy a recent order from the U.S. Supreme Court to give minority voters a greater voice and trigger a renewed battle over the state’s political map.

Lawmakers in the Republican-dominated House and Senate instead passed a plan that would increase the percentage of Black voters from about 31% to 40% in the state’s 2nd District. The map was a compromise between plans that had percentages of 42% and 38% for the southeast Alabama district. GOP Gov. Kay Ivey quickly signed it.

State lawmakers faced a deadline to adopt new district lines after the Supreme Court in June upheld a three-judge panel’s finding that the current state map — with one majority-Black district out of seven in a state that is 27% Black — likely violates the federal Voting Rights Act.

Voting rights advocates and Black lawmakers said the plan invoked the state’s Jim Crow history of treating Black voters unfairly.

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said the map, “and the Republican politicians who supported it, would make George Wallace proud,” referring to the segregationist former Alabama governor.

“It arrogantly defies a very conservative United States Supreme Court decision … from just weeks ago,” Holder said in a statement.

Republicans argued that their proposal complies with the directive to create a second district where Black voters could influence the outcome of congressional elections. Opponents said it flouted a directive from the panel to create a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it” so that Black voters “have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.”

The 140-seat Alabama Legislature has 33 Black lawmakers. All but one are Democrats.

“There’s no opportunity there for anybody other than a white Republican to win that district. It will never, ever elect a Democrat. They won’t elect a Black. They won’t elect a minority,” said Sen. Rodger Smitherman, a Democrat from Birmingham.

Republicans have been reluctant to create a Democratic-leaning district and are engaging in a high-stakes wager that the panel will accept their proposal or that the state will prevail in a second round of appeals. Republicans argued that the map meets the court’s directive and draws compact districts that comply with redistricting guidelines.

“If you think about where we were, the Supreme Court ruling was 5-4, so there’s just one judge that needed to see something different. And I think the movement that we have and what we’ve come to compromise on today gives us a good shot,” House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter said.

Republican Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed said he believed the changes to the district make it a so-called opportunity district.

“I’m confident that we’ve done a good job. It will be up to the courts to decide whether they agree,” Reed said.

The debate in Alabama is being closely watched across the nation, and could be mirrored in fights in Louisiana, Georgia, Texas and other states.

The three-judge panel ruled in 2022 that the current legislative map likely violates the federal Voting Rights Act and said any map should include two districts where “Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority” or something close. The Supreme Court concurred.

Now that the plan has passed, the fight will shift quickly back to the federal court to debate whether Alabama’s congressional districts comply with federal law and offer a fair opportunity to Black voters and candidates in a political landscape dominated by white Republicans.

Black Alabama lawmakers say it’s crucial that their constituents have a better chance of electing their choices.

“I have people in my district saying their vote doesn’t count, and I understand why they say that,” Rep. Thomas Jackson, a Thomasville Democrat, said during debate Friday. “The person they want to elect can never get elected because they are in the minority all the time.”

Black lawmakers disputed that the changes to the 2nd District, an area with deep ties to agriculture and home to military bases, would easily become a swing district. They speculated that state Republicans were seeking to mount another challenge to federal voting law.

“This is designed to protect a few people and ultimately to finish off the Voting Rights Act,” said Rep. Chris England, a Democratic lawmaker from Tuscaloosa.

An analysis by The Associated Press, using redistricting software, shows that the 2nd District proposed Friday has mostly voted for Republicans in recent statewide elections. Donald Trump won the district by nearly 10 percentage points in his 2020 reelection bid.

Experts have said the GOP proposals fall short of what the Supreme Court said last month is required.

“They have pretended as though the court didn’t say what it said,” said Kareem Crayton, senior director for voting and representation at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, which filed a brief supporting the plaintiffs before the Supreme Court.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Nina Simone fans have a reason for feeling good: A previously unreleased recording of the legendary artist’s set at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1966 is being released.

Verve Records and UMe on Friday are issuing “You’ve Got to Learn,” a six-song set that includes a different take on Simone’s celebrated protest song “Mississippi Goddam.”

The songs also include “You’ve Got to Learn, ”‘I Loves You, Porgy,” “Blues For Mama,” “Be My Husband” and ”Music for Lovers.” Simone, who also plays piano, is joined by guitar, bass and drums.

There are sound issues throughout — as they are sorted out before the final song, the encore “Music for Lovers,” she screams “Shut Up! “Shut Up!” to a heckler — but Simone’s power and mastery are clearly potent.

“Her performance is not fiery so much as passionate, not critical so much as coaxing,” writes Simone scholar Shana L. Redmond in the liner notes. “These are love songs and each captured something of the careful combination of intimacy and immediacy on stage for which Simone was known.”

“Mississippi Goddam,” was written by Simone in response to the 1963 Alabama church bombing that killed four little girls and the assassination of Medgar Evers in Mississippi that same year. The version Simone sung that day swings differently than earlier versions, less hectoring and includes the line “Watts has made me lose my rest,” a reference to the riots in Los Angeles on Aug. 11, 1965.

This year marks Simone’s 90th birthday. The so-called “High Priestess of Soul” and a civil rights icon recorded nearly 40 albums between 1958 and 1973, with such cherished songs as “I Put a Spell on You,” “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “Feeling Good.” She died in 2003.

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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Tony Bennett, the legendary singer whose smooth vocals and timeless classics captured the hearts of millions, died at 96 in his hometown of New York.

Although renowned for his musical achievements, his tireless work in civil rights advocacy has left an indelible mark on history.

Bennett’s journey into activism began early in his life.

Drafted into the Army as a teen in 1944 during World War II, he served on the front lines in Europe, witnessing the horrors of war and its devastating impact on human lives.

“The first time I saw a dead German, that’s when I became a pacifist,” Bennett revealed in an earlier interview with Howard Stern.

“Every war is insane, no matter where it is or what it’s about. Fighting is the lowest form of human behavior. No human being should have to go to war, especially an eighteen-year-old boy.”

His time in the military exposed him to the grim reality of racial segregation within the U.S. Armed Forces.

After being caught consorting with a Black soldier, Bennett was spat upon by a higher-ranking Army official, who assigned him the unenviable task of digging up the corpses of dead military members.

He said the encounter motivated him to speak out for civil rights.

In 1965, Bennett took part in the historic 50-mile Selma to Montgomery marches, standing alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to demand equality and justice for all.

“The mood was anger,” singer and activist Harry Belafonte said in an interview he and Bennett did in 2013. “The mood was rebellious on the part of the movement, on the part of the civil rights crowd, and the question is: What do we do in the face of this kind of rage and this kind of mayhem? And there was just… the bottom line was that we will go back as often as necessary.”

To rally the crowd during the march, Bennett performed “Just In Time” on a makeshift stage constructed from dozens of empty coffins, a powerful symbol of the lives lost in the struggle for civil rights.

“I didn’t want to do it, but then Harry Belafonte told me what went down,” Bennett recalled. “How some blacks were burned, had gasoline thrown on them. When I heard that, I said, ‘I’ll go with you,’” he said.

Bennett remained dedicated to championing humanitarian causes and advocating for equality throughout his life.

He was an outspoken ally of various social issues, using his platform to bring attention to pressing global challenges, including the plight of refugees.

Bennett also refused to perform in South Africa during the Apartheid era, and later received the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees Humanitarian Award for his unwavering commitment to humanitarian work.

Additionally, his contributions to civil rights earned him a place of honor as an inductee into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.

Beyond his activism, Bennett was a prolific musician with an impressive discography that spanned over 70 albums, earning him 19 performance Grammy awards.

His rendition of “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” became a timeless classic, earning him a legion of devoted fans, including fellow artists like Frank Sinatra and Lady Gaga.

A Kennedy Center Honoree and a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, Bennett is survived by his wife Susan, daughters Johanna and Antonia, sons Danny and Dae.

He also had nine grandchildren.

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