going to get to that a bit later. but i want to start with a lesser known case that is still awaiting a ruling by the highest court in the land. the case is smith v. the united states. it involves a 43-year-old alabama software engineer, timothy smith, who was convicted in 2020 of stealing trade secrets from a florida company. that case was tried in a northern district of florida court where smith was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison. a year and a half later, the 11th circuit court of appeals overturned his conviction, claiming that the florida court was the wrong venue for the case. in its ruling, the appeals court wrote, quote, we can say that venue would be proper in the southern district of alabama, where smith was located when he took the trade secrets. but venue was not proper in the northern district of florida, because smith never committed any essential conduct in that location.
point of view as somebody fighting this fight on the ground. in the courts. first, let me say, i agree with elie. we were shocked and surprised. happily and pleasantly because the supreme court did the right thing. but it s exactly because of that map, because look, 27% of the population is black. in 1982, when congress amended the voting rights act of 1965, it said look, voter dilution, no go. you can t just dilute black people s vote. and what the court did, the supreme court said in its precedent is right. you can t dilute the black vote. and here are the ways in which we look to see whether we do that. in alabama, we saw an 80,000-person increase in the size of the black population between the 2020 census and the previous census. that means the population number goes up. you should be able to see more
i want to point out the other thing that matters in addition to the jury, in addition to the facts, is what prosecutors, similar cases that prosecutors have charged, and there is a very strong trail of this justice department and prior justice departments charging individuals for illegally retaining and concealing government information. to stay with you for a moment because i want to hear barbara s analysis as well. having works for merrick garland and worked in that department, do you sense that supreme court case that is still active right now, like we don t know how that s going to go, would be a mitigating factor that might make them pause to try to bring a case in d.c. just in case the venue issue could kick in? does that track for you, that they would feel more confident and more comfortable doing the case in florida? listen, i think what i heard andrew weissmann say is that it would be prudent for a reasonable prosecutor to absolutely consider that case. and based on my exp
of the house. and it s brett kavanaugh who looks like the buffoon now for flipping at the late date. now it s like, it was clearly racist. it turns out pam alabama got this whole federal election cycle with a racist map. first, it feels like a setup a little bit because they have a whole bunch of other cases like affirmative action and all sorts of other stuff coming down the pike they could actually really hurt folks on, so it feels like that could happen. i will note, tina, am i going with this right now? i don t see it up here. donald trump, i will note for my two legal eagles here, is putting on his social media platform that he is being indicted. he is saying that. so we don t have any confirmation of that. it s donald trump. he says that he s going to appear in court, in miami, on tuesday at 3:00.
alabama had unfairly carved up its congressional districts creating just one majority black seat out of seven in a state where more than 1 in 4 residents is black. the state claimed they used a race neutral benchmark last year. a lower court with two trump appointees on it ruled the map violated the voting rights act and ordered them to redraw it. the ruling was stayed by the supreme court using its infamous shadow docket, effectively helping republicans win back the house majority. during oral arguments, it sounded like the majority of justices agreed with alabama. but it is possible that chief justice john roberts recognized the precarious position that the court stands in with the public, following the overturning of roe v. wade and a string of ethics scandals. whatever was behind the 5-4 surprise vote, alabama will now have to draw a new map for next year s elections. this ruling will undoubtedly impact similar cases in louisiana and georgia, and in a