This is an opinion column.

Demanding resignations is as futile as shouting at the sky for rain, but today, I’m going to do it anyway. Because a number of public officials should turn in their badges, even if they won’t.

And you deserve to know who they are.

For two years, the state of Alabama has fought efforts to draw a second majority-Black congressional district.

Plaintiffs sued. And plaintiffs won — at every single step, including the white marble steps, mined from Sylacauga, at the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington.

And yet, Alabama continued with its stubborn obstinance — defying the courts and demanding a do-over.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court said enough is enough. The justices denied the state’s latest motion asking for a stay. None dissented publically. Technically speaking, that’s not the end of Alabama’s case. But it’s the end.

It’s over. It’s been over. And a handful of public officials set fire to our tax dollars rather than accept that.

What’s more, they’ve again made our state the butt of the joke, and not the sort of place that feels welcoming for outsiders, or even all folks who live here.

I use the word Alabama above loosely. It wasn’t Alabama that refused to yield. It was public officials. It was people with names.

Let’s name names.

It was Attorney General Steve Marshall, who slobbers over pointless political crusades while ignoring the duties of his job, such as policing car parts plants using child labor.

It was the leadership in the Alabama House and Senate — including apportionment committee chairs — who abdicated their responsibilities under the law.

It was the state solicitor, Edmund LaCour, who gladly did the lawmakers’ work for them.

It was the secretary of state, Wes Allen, who, when asked whether he supported the case that bore his name, weirdly boasted of his record of making life hell for trans kids.

It was the governor, Kay Ivey, who put her signature on this garbage rather than being a grown-up and calling for an end to it.

At some point in the near future, the plaintiffs’ lawyers are going to send Alabama an invoice for their legal fees, which Alabama taxpayers will have to pay. I’ve asked the folks at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund what sort of hit Alabama should expect. They’ve told me that don’t know yet, but similar cases in other places have run north of $2 million.

And that’s only what one set of plaintiffs will bill us. There were three.

And it doesn’t account for what the state has blown on consultants and paid experts and outside lawyers — which will take years to tally up, if that’s even possible.

Imagine for a moment, you did something at work that cost your employer that kind of money, which resulted in a few million bucks going up in smoke.

Most folks in that situation wouldn’t get fired because they simply wouldn’t show up for work the next morning. They’d have more sense.

But not the officials above. They’re on the job today like nothing happened.

They should quit, but they won’t.

Watch what they say in the days ahead, but don’t expect to hear apologies. No regrets. No pleas for forgiveness. A few might try to spin this as some sort of victory on their part — all in the hope that you, the taxpayer, will believe them.

I’ve lost count of how many chances they’ve had. They don’t deserve another.

We Alabamians aren’t just taxpayers. We’re voters, too.

And if these folks don’t have the decency to quit their jobs, then it will be up to us, when the time comes, to fire them.

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for AL.com and the 2023 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Sign up for his weekly newsletter and get “Alabamafication” in your inbox every Wednesday.

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