Southern States Redraw Maps After Court Limits Racial Districts
Cover image from slate.com, which was analyzed for this article
South Carolina's Supreme Court and governor's special session, alongside fights in Georgia and Alabama, highlight ongoing gerrymandering disputes over Black voting districts. Democrats accuse Republicans of diluting minority representation, while courts intervene. SCOTUS cleared Alabama's map.
PoliticalOS
Thursday, May 14, 2026 — Politics
The Callais decision removed the requirement for additional majority-Black districts and triggered immediate special sessions in multiple states. The resulting maps will determine whether Republicans gain several House seats in 2026 while facing new lawsuits testing the limits of partisan line-drawing under the Equal Protection Clause.
What outlets missed
Most coverage omitted the precise holding in Callais that race cannot predominate in map-drawing without satisfying strict scrutiny. Few noted the existing 6-1 Republican edge in South Carolina or the 9-5 edge in Georgia before the new sessions. Almost no outlet reported the estimated $2 million cost to South Carolina taxpayers for the special session or the fact that Alabama’s 2023 map had already been drawn after the 2023 Milligan decision and was only later blocked by a lower court.
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