Photo: Alamy
The Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday allowed Alabama to use a Republican-backed congressional map in this year’s elections, blocking a lower court ruling that had ruled the plan intentionally discriminated against black voters.
The justices granted an emergency appeal from Alabama officials seeking to reinstate a map adopted in 2023 that contains only one majority-black congressional district out of the state’s seven districts.
“At this preliminary stage, the State has shown that it is entitled to interim relief from the District Court’s injunction,” the justices wrote.
The decision marks another major development in ongoing legal battles over congressional redistricting ahead of the November elections, as Republicans work to preserve their narrow majority in the United States House of Representatives.
The ruling also came one day before a key election deadline, previously extended by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, as state officials prepared for special congressional primaries scheduled for August.
Last week, Alabama’s Republican leadership appealed to the Supreme Court after a three-judge federal panel refused to permit use of the state’s preferred map.
That lower court had ordered Alabama to continue using a court-drawn map implemented during the 2024 election cycle. The court-approved map created two districts where black residents either comprised a majority or approached one, resulting in the election of two black Democratic members of Congress.
Steve Marshall argued before the Supreme Court that the Legislature’s map did not intentionally discriminate against Black voters and that lawmakers, rather than federal judges, should determine the state’s district boundaries.
The dispute follows last month’s Supreme Court ruling involving a congressional district in Louisiana that weakened parts of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 and struck down a black-majority district there.
That ruling prompted renewed redistricting efforts in several Southern states, including Alabama, where Republicans have sought to redraw districts with large minority populations that historically elected Democrats.
The latest Alabama ruling could have broader implications for congressional maps in other states as legal challenges over redistricting continue to move through federal courts ahead of the midterm elections.
