Black voting power takes a hit as Supreme Court revives Alabama’s contested map

Supreme Court Allows Alabama to Use 2023 Congressional Map for Special Primaries

The Supreme Court has granted Alabama’s emergency request to use a congressional district map adopted by state lawmakers in 2023 for special primary elections scheduled in August. The unsigned order lifts a lower court injunction and returns the case to a three-judge panel for further proceedings consistent with a recent decision narrowing the application of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

The 2023 map creates one district in which Black residents form a majority of the voting-age population out of Alabama’s seven congressional districts. A three-judge federal panel had previously ruled that the map violated federal law by diluting Black voting strength and had directed the state to adopt a configuration containing two districts in which Black voters would constitute a majority or near-majority. That panel had also found that Republican legislators acted with discriminatory intent when drawing the lines.

In its order, the Supreme Court’s majority stated that the lower court “did not heed the presumption of legislative good faith.” The three dissenting justices argued that the decision would permit an election under a map that disadvantages Black voters. The ruling follows the Court’s decision last month in Louisiana v. Callais, which limited the circumstances under which Section 2 claims can require the creation of additional majority-minority districts.

Alabama’s population is approximately 27 percent Black. Under a court-drawn map used for the 2024 elections, two districts had Black majorities or near-majorities, resulting in the election of two Black Democrats to the House. The 2023 map restores the configuration preferred by the Republican-controlled legislature.

Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, said the state would proceed with special primaries on August 11 in the four affected districts using the 2023 lines. “The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what I have said all along and that is that Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best,” Ivey stated. She described the outcome as a win for state authority over election administration.

Deuel Ross, director of litigation for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said the order allows states to enact maps that reduce Black voters’ ability to elect preferred candidates without sufficient judicial scrutiny. The organization has indicated it will continue litigation to seek different district boundaries.

The dispute began in 2023 when the three-judge panel invalidated the legislature’s map. After the Supreme Court’s Louisiana ruling altered the legal standard, Alabama officials sought to reinstate the 2023 map. The lower court again blocked it, citing what it described as undisputed evidence of intentional racial discrimination. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority then granted the state’s request to lift that injunction.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in dissent, wrote that the order would produce an election conducted under a map never previously used and opposed by the lower court on discrimination grounds. The majority did not issue a full opinion explaining its application of the Louisiana precedent.

The August primaries will select nominees for the general election in November. The 2023 map gives Republican candidates an opportunity to contest the South Alabama seat currently held by Representative Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat elected under the court-drawn plan. Alabama Republican leaders have maintained that the 2023 boundaries comply with traditional districting criteria and do not violate the Voting Rights Act under the standard set in Louisiana v. Callais.

The case will return to the three-judge panel for reconsideration. Any further rulings by that court or subsequent appeals could affect whether the same map remains in place for the 2026 midterm elections. Redistricting litigation continues in other states where similar Section 2 challenges have been filed following the Louisiana decision.

Alabama conducted its regular May 19 primaries under the court-drawn map before the Supreme Court acted. The special primaries in August will cover only the districts directly affected by the map change. State officials have said they will administer the elections under the lines approved by the high court order.