The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Monday cleared the way for Alabama to revert to a congressional map with one majority-Black district in a sudden ruling that drew a dissent from the court’s three liberal justices.
Alabama officials had rushed up to the court late Friday asking it to halt a lower court ruling blocking it from using a map it enacted in 2023 that includes only one majority-Black district out of seven. It did so based on the court’s blockbuster decision in late April dealing with Louisiana’s congressional map that severely weakened the scope of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Today the Supreme Court vindicated the state’s long-held position,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, said in a video posted on social media. “Now the power to draw Alabama’s maps goes back to the people’s elected representatives.”
The Supreme Court’s order, which included no explanation, tosses out a lower court decision that blocked the use of the 2023 map. The Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court for additional review, but given the short runway before the state’s primary election, Alabama seems likely to prevail with its highly contested map.
It was the latest instance of the Supreme Court delving quickly into a major redistricting fight as Republicans and Democrats race to eke an advantage out of their maps ahead of the November midterm election. Over the course of several months, the court has had a hand in maps in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and California.
Separately Monday, Democratic officials in Virginia asked the Supreme Court to step into a redistricting fight in that state.
No vote count was released in the Alabama case, and the decision was issued only minutes after a briefing opposing the move was filed. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by the court’s other two liberals, said the order was “inappropriate” and “will cause only confusion as Alabamians begin to vote in the elections scheduled for next week.”
The high court’s conservative majority, Sotomayor added, “unceremoniously discards” the lower court’s decision finding that the state engaged in intentional discrimination “without regard for the confusion that will surely ensue.”
The Alabama ruling, while technical and limited to that state, underscores the significance of the court’s April 29 decision on Louisiana’s congressional map. A 6-3 majority significantly limited the ability of groups to bring claims of racial discrimination under the Voting Rights Act. The decision effectively required voting rights groups to find a “strong inference” of intentional racial discrimination.
That departed from how federal courts have reviewed those claims for decades. In the past, lawsuits could succeed if they demonstrated a new map had a discriminatory effect, regardless of whether it was intentional. Voting rights groups say it may be impossible to bring successful challenges under the law in all but the most extreme circumstances.
“We are witnessing a return to Jim Crow,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson. “And anybody who is alarmed by these developments — as everybody should be — better be making a plan to vote in November to put an end to this madness while we still can.”
Alabama’s primary election had been set for May 19, but Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed legislation last week allowing for new US House primaries if courts allow the state to use different congressional districts.
Several Southern states are moving quickly to redraw their maps in light of the Supreme Court’s decisio further weakening the scope of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Tennessee and Florida, for instance, have both enacted new congressional maps that advantage the Republican Party.
An earlier version of Alabama’s map that included only one district where Black voters could select a candidate of their choice was reviewed by the Supreme Court in 2023. In that case, the justices required the state to try again. The state did so, but its new map also included only one district where Black voters could pick a candidate.
The state voted in 2024 on a court-drawn map that included two districts where Black voters had an opportunity to select a candidate of their choice.
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Source: Supreme Court allows Alabama to eliminate congressional district held by a Black Democrat