Supreme Court allows Alabama to use congressional map that eliminates a majority-Black district

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Alabama to use a congressional map that eliminates one of two majority-Black districts in the state in a win for Republicans.

The justices, split 6-3 on ideological lines with conservatives in the majority, granted an emergency request filed by Republican officials seeking to use the map, which was enacted in 2023 but has never been used.

In the unsigned three-page order, the court said that the state is likely to ultimately prevail on its claim that the map was lawfully drawn.

In dissent, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority’s decision “disregards both democratic values and the rule of law.”

Under the redrawn map, Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures would likely lose out.

A lower court found that the map intentionally discriminated against Black voters in violation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. In an earlier ruling, the court had also found that the map violated the Voting Rights Act.

The intentional discrimination decision was based on the fact that the state drew the 2023 map with one majority-Black district even after the lower court suggested that there should be two majority-Black districts after finding an earlier map violated the Voting Rights Act. That ruling rejecting Alabama’s 2021 map was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2023.

But the Supreme Court asked the lower court to take a new look at the case in light of its recent ruling in a case from Louisiana that weakened the Voting Rights Act, a law that previously placed sharp limits on states diluting the power of minority voters.

The three-judge panel on May 26 concluded for a second time that the map was unconstitutional.

The state’s primaries were originally due to take place on May 19, but officials pushed them back while they raced to respond to the Supreme Court’s Louisiana ruling and restore their preferred map. The primaries are now set to take place on Aug. 11.

The last year has seen an unprecedented wave of fast-track redistricting that was kicked off by President Donald Trump’s demand that Texas redraw its map in order to favor Republicans. Usually, maps are only drawn once a decade following the U.S. census.

Republicans currently have a narrow majority in the U.S. House and are seeking to minimize their losses in the midterm elections in November.

The redistricting situation was made more complicated by the Supreme Court ruling in the Louisiana case, which sparked a frenzy among mostly Southern states to redraw maps in order to eliminate majority-Black districts held by Democrats.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.