A three judge panel is ruling against the state of Alabama and its plans to erase a African American U.S. House seat. There’s also reportedly separate deadline associated with this case starting Tuesday. The three judges in the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division, in Birmingham, says the state cannot use voting maps that delete the African American and Democratic District two.
The panel says the new boundaries for that U.S. House and the changes they would create in Districts one, six, and seven intentionally discriminate against blacks. The ruling stops the state from reverting to a 2023 plan that erases district 2. A separate deadline reportedly starts today for election supervisors to move voters into the new districts before a planned August eleventh special Congressional primary. The contention that the new maps state wants have to finalized by June second.
In it’s 102 page ruling, the judges said…
“After that exacting review, we conclude that a preliminary injunction must
issue. Ultimately, 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 under the unusual circumstances of this case, we conclude that a limited order requiring the Secretary to continue using this Court’s race-blind map will not disrupt Alabama’s elections (all candidates ran under the race-blind map until fifteen days ago, and all voters remain districted under the race-blind map in electoral computer systems). We do not lightly intrude in state affairs, but our previous review of the undisputed evidence left us in no doubt that Alabama’s legislatively enacted plan (the “2023 Plan”) intentionally discriminated based on race in violation of the Constitution. Our re-examination in light of (SCOTUS decision Louisiana v.) Callais yields the same conclusion.”
The Alabama Public Radio news team spent eight months investigating issues surrounding the creation of the new minority-majority District 2 U.S. House in Alabama. That effort was recognized with national journalism awards. Democrat Shomari Figures later was a guest on “APR Notebook” to talk, in part, about the political and legal uncertainty associated with his Congressional district. Links to that content can be found below.
The ruling was a defeat for state Republicans who want to use a map for the November midterms that will give the GOP a chance to reclaim the seat now held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures. However, the state could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court order is the latest development in the twisting legal and political saga following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Black-majority district in Louisiana and weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. That ruling has led Republicans in several Southern states, including Alabama, to take steps to reshape voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.
The redistricting frenzy is part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to try to hold on to Republicans’ slim House majority in the November elections.
Other states also have considered adjustments to their primary elections to allow time for congressional redistricting after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision affecting the Voting Rights Act. Louisiana’s congressional primaries, scheduled for May 16, were postponed until later this summer by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry so that state lawmakers could consider a new U.S. House map that would eliminate a majority-Black district.
In South Carolina, the Republican-led legislature considered a plan that would throw out the votes from its June 9 congressional primary and instead hold a new primary in August under revised districts that could improve Republicans’ chances of winning an additional seat.
Tennessee also moved quickly to enact new U.S. House districts after the Supreme Court’s ruling by carving up a Black-majority district based in Memphis that had elected the state’s only Democratic representative. The new map gives Republicans a chance to sweep all nine of the state’s seats. As part of the plan, Tennessee temporarily reopened the candidate qualifying period for its August congressional primaries, allowing new candidates to enter the race and existing ones to either switch districts or drop out.
Since Trump first urged Texas to redraw its U.S. House districts last summer, about a half-dozen Republican-led states have enacted new voting districts, though some still face legal challenges. Democrats countered with new districts in California and also expect to gain a seat from new court-imposed districts in Utah.
