By Jeff Devine, Dale County Chronicle
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for Alabama to use a congressional map drawn by the Alabama Legislature for the 2026 election cycle, temporarily overturning a lower federal court order that had blocked the map from taking effect.
The decision represents the latest development in a redistricting battle that has stretched for years and has become one of the nation’s most closely watched voting rights cases.
The Supreme Court’s order allows Alabama election officials to proceed with the congressional districts approved by lawmakers in 2023 while legal challenges continue.
The ruling comes less than two weeks after a three-judge federal panel ruled that Alabama’s 2023 congressional map intentionally discriminated against Black voters and ordered the state to continue using a court-drawn map for the 2026 elections.
In that May ruling, the judges said they had “no doubt” that lawmakers designed the map to “crack Black voters across congressional districts in a manner that makes it impossible to create two districts in which they have an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, and thereby intentionally perpetuate the discriminatory effects of the 2021 plan.”
The judges further wrote that while findings of intentional discrimination are uncommon, Alabama’s case was not a close one.
“So we observe that although the success of the Milligan Plaintiffs’ claim of intentional discrimination is unusual, we also do not regard it as a particularly close call,” the panel wrote in its May decision.
Following the federal court’s ruling, Deuel Ross of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which represents plaintiffs who challenged Alabama’s congressional maps, praised the decision.
“The court’s decision confirms the unfortunate reality of Alabama’s illegal and unconstitutional actions in this case,” Ross said in a phone interview after the May ruling.
Ross also described the decision at the time as “an incredible victory for Black voters, and all voters, really in the Black Belt, who have been denied representation by the state for decades.”
However, Tuesday’s Supreme Court order temporarily halted the lower court’s directive and allowed Alabama to proceed with the Legislature-drawn map while the broader legal battle continues.
The dispute traces its roots to the 2020 Census and Alabama’s congressional redistricting process. After the Legislature approved a new congressional map in 2021, a coalition of Black voters and civil rights groups filed suit, arguing the plan violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by failing to create a second district where Black voters could elect candidates of their choice.
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark 5-4 decision in Allen v. Milligan, affirming a lower court ruling that found the map likely violated the Voting Rights Act. Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and largely by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The Court agreed that plaintiffs had shown Black voters were numerous and geographically compact enough to form a second majority-Black district, that Black voters were politically cohesive, and that voting patterns among white voters often prevented Black voters from electing their preferred candidates. The justices also upheld findings regarding Alabama’s extensive history of racial discrimination in voting and elections.
Following the Milligan decision, Alabama lawmakers were instructed to draw a congressional map that complied with the Voting Rights Act. Lawmakers responded by approving a revised congressional map in 2023. However, plaintiffs argued the new plan still failed to comply with the Supreme Court’s directive. Earlier this year, a three-judge federal panel agreed, ruling the Legislature’s map intentionally discriminated against Black voters.
The federal court ordered Alabama to continue using a court-drawn congressional map that was implemented for the 2024 elections. That map reshaped Alabama’s 2nd and 7th Congressional Districts and resulted in Alabama electing two Black Democrats to Congress for the first time in decades. The court-drawn map created a second district in which Black voters had an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, stretching across portions of the historic Black Belt and connecting communities from Mobile to Montgomery and east Alabama.
The current Supreme Court order does not overturn the Court’s 2023 Allen v. Milligan decision. Instead, it allows Alabama to use the Legislature’s revised map while litigation continues, making the latest ruling another chapter in the ongoing legal battle over congressional representation and voting rights in Alabama.
Governor Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall have argued that Alabama’s elected leaders, rather than federal courts, should be responsible for drawing congressional districts. State leaders have repeatedly maintained that the Legislature’s map complies with legal requirements and reflects traditional redistricting principles.
Voting rights groups and plaintiffs in the case have argued that the Legislature’s plan continues to dilute Black voting strength and undermines protections guaranteed under the Voting Rights Act.
The Supreme Court’s order also provides clarity for candidates who qualified to run under the Legislature-drawn districts
In Alabama’s 1st Congressional District, Republican candidates Jerry Carl, Lucas Burger, John Mills, and Austin Sidwell are seeking their party’s nomination, while Democrat Clyde Jones is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination. The 1st Congressional District encompasses the following counties: Baldwin, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Escambia, Geneva, Houston, and Mobile.
The 2nd Congressional District, which includes much of southeast Alabama and portions of the Wiregrass, including the following counties: Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Crenshaw, Henry, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Montgomery, Pike, Russell, Washington, and Wilcox.
Candidates in the revised 2nd Congressional District include Republicans Hampton Harris, Christian Horn, David Matthews, James Richardson, Rhett Marques, and Joshua McKee. Democratic incumbent Shomari Figures is also seeking another term.
In the 6th Congressional District, incumbent Republican Gary Palmer faces Republican challenger Case Dixon. Democrats Keith Pilkington, Ashtyn Kennedy, Maurice Mercer, and Jacob Bouma-Sims are seeking their party’s nomination. The 6th Congressional District includes the following counties: Bibb, Chilton, Coosa, Jefferson (except for the Birmingham area), Shelby, and a portion of Autauga.
The 7th Congressional District features Republican candidates David W. Perry and Ammie Akin, while Democratic incumbent Terri Sewell is seeking reelection. This district also reverts back to the 2023 map boundaries and includes Dallas, Greene, Hale, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa, and reaches up into the Birmingham metro area in part of Jefferson County.
The Supreme Court’s order means Alabama will use the Legislature-drawn map for the 2026 elections unless future court rulings intervene. The decision could have significant political implications, as Republicans currently hold five of Alabama’s seven congressional seats while Democrats hold two.
The case remains ongoing, and additional legal challenges are expected as courts continue to examine Alabama’s redistricting plans and the broader impact of recent Supreme Court rulings on voting rights cases and the use of race-based gerrymandering nationwide.
