Alabama Law And Government

The foundational document for Alabama's government is the Alabama Constitution, which was ratified in 1901. At more than 770 amendments and 310,000 words, it is the world's longest constitution and is roughly forty times the length of the U.S. Constitution.[30][31]

The legislative branch is the Alabama Legislature, a bicameral assembly composed of the Alabama House of Representatives, with 105 members, and the Alabama Senate, with 35 members. The Legislature is responsible for writing, debating, passing, or defeating state legislation.

The executive branch is responsible for the execution and oversight of laws. It is headed by the Governor of Alabama. Other members of executive branch include the cabinet, the Attorney General of Alabama, the Alabama Secretary of State, the Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, the Alabama State Treasurer, and the Alabama State Auditor.

The judicial branch is responsible for interpreting the Constitution and applying the law in state criminal and civil cases. The highest court is the Supreme Court of Alabama.

Alabama has 67 counties. Each county has its own elected legislative branch, usually called the Board of Commissioners, which usually also has executive authority in the county. Due to the restraints placed in the Alabama Constitution, all but 7 counties (Jefferson, Lee, Mobile, Madison, Montgomery, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa) in the state have little to no home rule. Instead, most counties in the state must lobby the Local Legislation Committee of the state legislature to get simple local policies such as waste disposal to land use zoning.

Alabama is an alcoholic beverage control state; the government holds a monopoly on the sale of alcohol.

The current governor of the state is Bob Riley. The lieutenant governor is Jim Folsom Jr. The Democratic Party currently holds a large majority in both houses of the Legislature. Due to the Legislature's power to override a gubernatorial veto by a mere simple majority (most state Legislatures require a 2/3 majority to override a veto), the relationship between the executive and legislative branches can be easily strained when different parties control both branches.

During Reconstruction following the American Civil War, Alabama was occupied by federal troops of the Third Military District under General John Pope. In 1874, the political coalition known as the Redeemers took control of the state government from the Republicans. After 1890, a coalition of whites passed laws to segregate and disenfranchise black residents. The state became part of the "Solid South," a one-party system in which the Democratic Party became essentially the only political party in every Southern state. For nearly 100 years, local and state elections in Alabama were decided in the Democratic Party primary, with generally no Republican challenger running in the General Election. It was not until the 1980s that Republicans began to successfully challenge and win elections in local and state offices.

Alabama state politics gained nationwide and international attention in the 1950s and 1960s during the American Civil Rights Movement, when it bureaucratically, and at times, violently resisted protests for electoral and social reform. The state's governor during the period, George Wallace, remains a notorious and controversial figure. However, in 2007, the Alabama legislature passed, and the Governor signed, a resolution expressing "profound regret" over slavery and its lingering impact. The bill was signed in the Alabama state house which served as the first Capital of the Confederate States of America.[32]

Presidential elections results

Year	Republican	Democrat
2004	62.46% 1,176,394	36.84% 693,933
2000	56.47% 944,409	41.59% 695,602
1996	50.12% 769,044	43.16% 662,165
1992	47.65% 804,283	40.88% 690,080
1988	59.17% 815,576	39.86% 549,506
1984	60.54% 872,849	38.28% 551,899
1980	48.75% 654,192	47.45% 636,730
1976	42.61% 504,070	55.73% 659,170
1972	72.43% 728,701	25.54% 256,923
1968*	13.99% 146,923	18.72% 196,579
1964	69.45% 479,085	30.55% 210,732
1960	42.16% 237,981	56.39% 318,303
*State won by George Wallace of the American Independent Party, at 65.86%, or 691,425 votes

From 1876 through 1956, Alabama supported only Democratic presidential candidates, by large margins. 1960 was a curious election; the Democrats won with John F. Kennedy on the ballot, but the Democratic electors gave 6 of their 11 electoral votes as a protest to Harry Byrd. In 1964, Republican Barry Goldwater carried the state. In the 1968 presidential election, Alabama supported native son and American Independent Party candidate George Wallace over both Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. In 1976, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter carried the state, the region, and the nation, but Democratic control of the region slipped thereafter. Since 1980, the Republican party has become increasingly dominant in Alabama's federal elections. In local politics, by contrast, Democrats still control many offices, such as their large and long standing majority in the Alabama Legislature.

In 2004, George W. Bush won Alabama's nine electoral votes by a margin of 25 percentage points with 62.5% of the vote. The only 11 counties voting Democratic were Black Belt counties, where African Americans are in the majority.

The state's two current U.S. senators are Jefferson B. Sessions III and Richard C. Shelby, both from the Republican Party.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, the state is represented by seven members, five of whom are Republicans (Jo Bonner, Terry Everett, Mike D. Rogers, Robert Aderholt, and Spencer Bachus) and two Democrats (Bud Cramer and Artur Davis).