A federal three-judge panel blocked Alabama Tuesday from using its Republican-drawn congressional map this year, arguing the map remains racially discriminatory despite a recent Supreme Court ruling.
The court issued a preliminary injunction in the redistricting case and ruled that the state should use the 2024 remedial map for this year’s elections instead of forging ahead with the Legislature-drawn 2023 congressional map.
“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,” the panel wrote.
After the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed how race could be used to draw district boundaries in a ruling last month, the justices ordered the lower court to review Alabama’s request to implement the 2023 map that would likely give Republicans another seat in Congress.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state will “immediately appeal” Tuesday’s decision to the Supreme Court.
“I find nothing in the U.S. Supreme Court’s vacatur order of May 11 that would provide a basis for this outcome,” Marshall said. “Know this—in my mind, it is not a matter of whether we win this case, only when.”
U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, who cheered the lower court’s ruling, alluded to the fact that the redistricting saga is far from over this year. The 2023 congressional map significantly alters Figures’ current 2nd Congressional District, which was created as an opportunity district for Black voters.
“This is a significant step in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go before the fight is settled,” Figures said in a statement.
The three-judge panel previously ruled that the 2023 map intentionally diluted the power of Black voters, and they argued the recent Supreme Court ruling in the Louisiana redistricting case does not change that.
Gov. Kay Ivey already set special Aug. 11 primary elections for the four congressional districts impacted by changing the congressional map to the one adopted by the Legislature. Candidate qualifying for those elections has already closed. It’s unclear how this ruling will affect those special primaries.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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