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Leah Aden is the lead attorney in South Carolina’s fight against redistricting.
Aden wasn’t fearful of the justices’ tough questions.
“I’ve always wanted to do impact work,” she said. “I’ve lived with this case from the ground up.”
Aden reminded the lower court’s finding of “stark racial gerrymandering,” arguing that state lawmakers were “consistently looking at race because they had an expectation that race was a predictor of how political parties would perform.” “In light of the total record, it reflects that there was a racial target, it reflects that there was a significant sorting of Black people,” Aden said.
The Washington, D.C. native is a part of a small but mighty group of oralists and follows in the footsteps of legendary LDF lawyers including the late Constance Baker Motley as well as Christina Swarns, head of the Innocence Project. She prides herself on being a student of Black law and education. “I grew up understanding the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education. I am one of its beneficiaries,” the Howard University School of Law graduate said. “Education, that’s our equalizer.”
As the case was filed on behalf of the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, a Hilton Head Island, and a member of the historic Gullah Geechee community, Aden said she was optimistic, according to LDF, and looked forward to the Supreme Court’s decision. “There are congressional elections next year, and every election where our clients don’t have their rights respected is one election too many.”
Source: Black Enterprise
