Firm: Jones Day
Issue Area: Voting and Elections
Jones Day represented South Carolina Senate President Thomas C. Alexander and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Luke A. Rankin in Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, a challenge to the state's 2022 congressional map. The South Carolina NAACP and voter Taiwan Scott alleged that the Republican-controlled legislature racially gerrymandered the 1st Congressional District, including by moving roughly 30,000 Black residents of Charleston County into the neighboring 6th District. Jones Day's defense was that the map was rigged against Democrats rather than against Black voters.
In response to the NAACP's concerns about the legislative process behind the map, Jones Day responded that "politics ain't bean bag," arguing that even outright procedural violations or isolated departures from legislative norms do not show discriminatory intent.