A panel of three federal judges has blocked Alabama from using a Republican-friendly congressional map in this year's midterm elections, ruling that it was drawn with the intention of discriminating against Black voters. The decision, issued on Tuesday, prevents the state from implementing a map passed by lawmakers in 2023 that had never taken effect due to prior legal challenges.
The judges found that the map violated the Voting Rights Act, even after the US Supreme Court weakened a key provision in its April ruling in Louisiana v Callais. Alabama had sought to use the 2023 map after moving its congressional primary, but the court determined that the plan was 'tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.' The panel noted that the legislature 'made a calculated, purposeful decision to refuse to provide the remedy for discriminatory vote dilution.'
Davin Rosborough, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's voting rights project, praised the ruling, stating: 'The court recognised what we already knew: the Alabama legislature's repeated refusal to provide Black Alabamians with fair representation in Congress is racial discrimination.' He added that Black voters 'deserve a voice and a seat at the table.'
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, said he would appeal to the US Supreme Court, expressing disappointment but not surprise. 'Know this – in my mind, it is not a matter of whether we win this case, only when,' he said in a statement.
The case stems from a 2021 lawsuit by Black plaintiffs who argued that the state's congressional map diluted Black voting power. After a court-ordered redraw, the 2023 map was again found to be discriminatory, leading to a special master creating a map with two majority-Black districts, which both elected Democrats. The latest ruling now presents a test of whether the Supreme Court's recent decision truly allows challenges to intentionally discriminatory maps.
