Alabama Appeals Supreme Court After Federal Panel Blocks GOP-Drawn Congressional Map

A three-judge panel blocked a Republican-drawn congressional map in Alabama from going into effect, writing that the district lines “intentionally discriminated based on race in violation of the Constitution.”

The panel said, “We cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” and the decision was described as a setback for Republicans seeking to enact the map after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month.

930 WFMD Free Talk

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state would “immediately appeal” to the Supreme Court, and Gov. Kay Ivey scheduled a second primary date in August for the districts affected by the Republican-drawn map.

The dispute traces back to a 2023 map drawn by Republican legislators that a federal court order—affirmed by the Supreme Court—required to create two districts where Black voters make up voting-age majorities, “or something quite close to it.”

PBS reported that Alabama filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court a day after the three-judge court refused to let the state use a map adopted three years ago that has a majority Black population in just one of its seven congressional districts.

Alabama’s Republican leadership asked the Supreme Court to allow use of the GOP-favoring map for this year’s elections, even after the lower court ruled the redistricting plan intentionally discriminates against Black people.

In its filing, Alabama officials argued, “Alabama and the public face irreparable harm unless a stay issues because they will be unable to use the State's 'duly enacted plans' for the 2026 election,” and they said voters would be forced to vote under a court-drawn map that does not meet Alabama’s legitimate districting goals.

AL

SCOTUSblog reported that Alabama Solicitor General A. Barrett Bowdre told the justices that “both Alabama and the public face irreparable harm … because they will be unable to use the State’s ‘duly enacted plans’ for the 2026 election.”

NBC News said the map would eliminate one of Alabama’s two majority-minority districts, putting the GOP in position to gain a seat in this year’s midterm elections.

PBS added that the judges instead required Alabama to continue using a court-ordered map put in place for the 2024 elections that includes two districts where Black residents comprise a majority or close to it.

The legal fight is framed as a race-and-voting-rights dispute with consequences for Alabama’s 2026 elections, after the three-judge panel said it could not require Alabamians to vote under a plan “tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.”

“Republicans in the southern state of Alabama have petitioned the United States Supreme Court to approve a congressional election map previously ruled to be racially discriminatory”

Al Jazeera

Alabama’s appeal is also tied to the Supreme Court’s April decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which PBS said weakened the federal Voting Rights Act and has led Republicans in several Southern states to reshape voting districts with large minority populations.

KTVZ reported that Alabama officials sought permission to use a map that would likely add a Republican seat to the House next year, once again thrusting the justices into the nationwide mid-decade redistricting battle.

The stakes extend to which districts voters will use in primaries and midterms, with Al Jazeera saying primaries had already been held on May 19 and that voters in Alabama’s first, second, sixth and seventh congressional districts would have to recast their ballots under the plan on August 11.

News From The States reported that the Congressional Black Caucus urged American corporations to condemn efforts to dilute Black voting strength, warning that “They are coordinated efforts to silence Black voices at the ballot box and strip communities of representation in American democracy.”