Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall wants to swap his current seat for the U.S. Senate, and he’s backing Katherine Robertson as his handpicked successor. But before Alabama voters hand them the keys to even more power, let’s be blunt: these two have already proven themselves to be reckless, short-sighted, and all too willing to sacrifice the rights of Black Alabamians and the stability of their own party.
Their redistricting debacle isn’t just a legal failing — it’s a self-inflicted wound that has cracked the Republican stronghold they claim to protect. Instead of following the U.S. Supreme Court’s clear order in Allen v. Milligan — to create a second majority-Black congressional district — Marshall and Robertson decided they knew better. They gambled that ignoring the Court would somehow preserve Republican control. What they actually did was hand Alabama’s map — and key Republican seats — over to the federal courts.
The federal three-judge panel, including two Trump appointees, didn’t mince words: Alabama’s 2023 congressional map “purposefully refused” to provide Black voters equal opportunity. That’s not just a rebuke of bad policy — it’s a direct shot at Marshall’s and Robertson’s leadership. The result? For the first time in history, Alabama sent two Black representatives — Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures — to Congress, flipping Republican dominance on its head.
Let’s be clear: Marshall and Robertson’s strategy wasn’t about protecting Alabama. It was about keeping the dark money pipeline flowing from Leonard Leo’s billion-dollar empire in Washington. Alabama’s legal defense was orchestrated by the Consovoy McCarthy law firm — Leo’s trusted legal attack dogs — and shepherded by Solicitor General Edmund LaCour, who’s made a career out of cozying up to Leo’s network.
This wasn’t just a losing legal fight — it was a political suicide mission. They banked on Justice Brett Kavanaugh flipping his previous vote and gutting the Voting Rights Act entirely. It was a fantasy — one that didn’t just blow up in Marshall and Robertson’s faces but also threatened the very power Republicans have fought to hold in Alabama.
If that wasn’t enough, President Donald Trump — no stranger to gutting political adversaries — has now turned on Leonard Leo himself, calling him a “real sleazebag” and blaming the Federalist Society for installing judges who are no longer propping up his second-term agenda. Trump’s outburst lays bare how fragile the Republican coalition really is — and how Alabama’s leadership was playing a dangerous game that didn’t even have the backing of the party’s most powerful voice.
This is what makes Marshall and Robertson’s redistricting disaster so infuriating: it wasn’t about Alabama at all. It was about paying homage to national ideological puppeteers who see Alabama as nothing more than a pawn in their relentless campaign to roll back civil rights and voting protections. And in the end, it’s Alabama Republicans left holding the bag — facing lost congressional seats, lost credibility and a wave of lawsuits that could crack open the GOP’s grip on Montgomery.
No one’s accusing Marshall and Robertson of breaking the law. But let’s call this what it is: a shameless display of hubris, arrogance and outright incompetence. They didn’t just lose a legal battle — they threw away Republican seats in Congress and opened the door to even more losses in the State Legislature.
So here’s the question for Alabama voters. Why would we trust these two to run for higher office after they’ve already proven they’re willing to gamble away voting rights and Republican power alike? Why should we reward leaders who put national puppet masters ahead of the people they were elected to serve?
Come 2026, the choice couldn’t be clearer. Alabama can stick with Marshall and Robertson and watch Republican power slip further through their fingers. Or Alabama can say enough — no more games, no more out-of-state strings and no more self-sabotage. Because the people of Alabama deserve leaders who will fight for them — not for the Washington insiders who see Alabama as nothing more than a lab experiment.
