U.S. Supreme Court Clears Way for Alabama to Use New Congressional Voting Map

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for Alabama to use a new congressional voting map for the midterm elections, overturning a lower-court order that had blocked the state’s 2023 map.

The decision follows a Supreme Court ruling in April that struck down a majority-Black U.S. House district in Louisiana as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and significantly weakened a provision of the federal Voting Rights Act.

ABC News

Alabama’s current map includes two majority-Black districts that both elected Democrats to Congress in 2024, while the 2023 map Alabama is now positioned to use would eliminate one of those two majority-Black districts.

Axios said the move is likely to flip one House seat from blue to red and may lead to a full redistricting effort that could flip two seats, while The Washington Post said Monday’s ruling could deliver an additional seat to the GOP in the midterm elections.

In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, argued the order was “inappropriate and will cause only confusion as Alabamians begin to vote in the elections scheduled for next week.”

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the Supreme Court’s action was a “major victory for the U.S. Supreme Court,” adding, “For too long, unelected federal judges have had more say over Alabama’s elections than Alabama voters. That ended today,” in comments carried by WSFA.

WSFA reported that Wes Allen, the Alabama Secretary of State who filed the motion asking the Supreme Court to lift its injunction, called the decision a “historic win for Alabama voters,” while Senate Pro Tem Garlan Grudger praised it as allowing Alabama to pass maps that accurately reflect the state’s majority conservative voter base.

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U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-District 2, said the ruling “sets the stage for Alabama to go back to the 1950s and 60s in terms of Black political representation in the state,” and U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-District 7, called it “a stunning departure from legal precedent and another direct attack on Black voters in Alabama.”

The Hill described the dissent as insisting the map should remain blocked for a standalone reason unaffected by the decision, quoting Sotomayor’s warning that “Vacatur is thus inappropriate and will cause only confusion as Alabamians begin to vote in the elections scheduled for next week.”

CNN reported that Alabama officials had rushed to the Supreme Court late Friday to halt a lower-court ruling blocking the 2023 map, and it quoted Sotomayor’s view that the order “unceremoniously discards” the lower court’s decision finding intentional discrimination “without regard for the confusion that will surely ensue.”

The Supreme Court’s Monday order sent the dispute back to a lower court for another look, but the short runway before Alabama’s primary election meant Alabama was likely to prevail with its highly contested map, CNN said.

“Supreme Court halts order for Alabama to use US House map with 2 largely Black districts Supreme Court halts order for Alabama to use US House map with 2 largely Black districts WASHINGTON (AP) — The U”

Associated Press

SCOTUSblog reported that the justices threw out the lower-court order barring Alabama from using the 2023 map and sent the dispute back to the lower court for another look, while also noting that Sotomayor argued the primary election was next week and that vacating the injunction would immediately replace the current map with Alabama’s 2023 Redistricting Plan until the District Court acts.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called a special session and WSFA reported that it saw the passage of two bills calling for a special election in U.S. House districts 1, 2, 6 and 7, and state senate districts 25 and 26, with the governor signing both bills Friday.

The New York Times said the Supreme Court’s decision will send the case back to a lower court judge to reconsider the legality of the Alabama map in light of the court’s recent decision narrowing the Voting Rights Act, and it described the justices as splintering along ideological lines.

Beyond Alabama, Source ONE News said Missouri’s top court was hearing a legal challenge and that lawmakers in Louisiana and South Carolina were weighing whether to redraw U.S. House districts ahead of the midterms, while it also said Alabama was poised to switch its congressional districts for this year’s elections after the Supreme Court overturned an order for it to use a map with two largely Black districts.