The Supreme Court has approved Alabama's new congressional map that eliminates one of the state's two majority-Black districts, clearing the way for Republicans to use the redrawn plan in the upcoming midterm elections. The 6-3 decision represents another significant victory for Republicans following the court's landmark April ruling that weakened a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act.
Alabama's map now contains six Republican-leaning districts and one Democratic-leaning district. The state had challenged a lower court's decision to block the map, arguing that it should be allowed to proceed. The Supreme Court sided with Alabama's position.
This ruling marks the first major test of whether the court's April decision in Louisiana v Callais, which struck down key protections of the Voting Rights Act, would permit states to implement maps that intentionally discriminate against Black voters. The Alabama case demonstrates how that earlier ruling has reshaped the legal landscape surrounding congressional redistricting.
The state's efforts to redraw its map were part of a broader Republican campaign across the South following the April decision. Tennessee implemented a new map eliminating a majority-Black district in Memphis. Louisiana is also preparing to remove a majority-Black district, and South Carolina may follow. Florida's new congressional map, which could provide the GOP four additional seats in the midterms, has also survived initial court challenges.
The Alabama dispute has been contentious. Black voters sued the state in 2021, arguing that its original congressional map diluted their voting power. Federal judges ordered the state to create a new plan with an additional majority-Black district. However, the legislature passed a 2023 map that again eliminated that protection. The Supreme Court ultimately upheld a court-appointed special master's map that included the two majority-Black districts.
The latest Supreme Court decision allows Alabama to move forward with its map that reduces the number of districts where Black voters have a meaningful opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.
The decision has drawn sharp criticism from voting rights advocates. Davin Rosborough, deputy director of the voting rights project at the American Civil Liberties Union, stated that the court's earlier ruling "recognized what we already knew: the Alabama legislature's repeated refusal to provide Black Alabamians with fair representation in Congress is racial discrimination."
Alabama's Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall said he anticipated the outcome. "I am disappointed, but not at all surprised," he said in a statement, adding that he viewed the case as a matter of "when" the state would prevail, not "if."
Civil rights groups have expressed concern that the redistricting efforts across the South represent a return to voter suppression tactics and deliberately deny Black voters a voice in the political process.