Senators standing on the floor on the Alabama Senate on the final day of the 2026 Regular Session on April 9, 2026, in Montgomery, Alabama. A federal judge on Monday denied the state's motion to vacate the court-ordered Senate map that was put in place because the Legislature-passed map was ruled in violation of the Voting Rights Act. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
A federal judge Monday denied the state’s request to revert to Alabama’s 2021 state Senate map, citing a lack of jurisdiction.
Responding to an emergency motion from Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, who sought to reverse the order after the U.S. Supreme Court significantly weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais, U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco wrote that she had to “preserve the status quo” after Allen filed a separate appeal to the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Under these precedents, the Court has no authority to vacate or stay its injunction,” Manasco, a Trump appointee, wrote. “The eecretary has appealed the permanent injunction that he now asks this court to stay, and his appeal is pending in the Eleventh Circuit. As things now stand, only the Eleventh Circuit can address the merits of the secretary’s arguments for vacatur or stay, and that court has indicated that it intends to do so—on an expedited basis.”
As of early Monday afternoon, the 11th Circuit had not addressed Allen’s motion.
Manasco, a member of the three-judge panel that ruled Alabama’s congressional maps racially discriminatory in 2023, in August ruled that two Montgomery-area districts violated the now-weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. In November, a new map was put in place.
Allen on Tuesday filed an emergency motion to vacate Manasco’s previous ruling and the court-ordered map with the “benefit of the Supreme Court’s decision” in Louisiana v. Callais.
Manasco said that Remedial Plan 3, the districts that candidates are running in and voters are voting in Tuesday, is the status quo.
“Indeed, the remedial plan has been the status quo since this court and the circuit declined to stay it, and pursuant to the orders of this court, the secretary is using it for the 2026 Alabama Senate elections that are occurring now,” she wrote. “Accordingly, a stay would upend Alabama’s status quo, and Rule 62 does not authorize this Court to do that at this time.”
Messages seeking comment from Attorney General Steve Marshall, who represents Allen, and Davin Rosborough, who represents the plaintiffs, were left Monday afternoon.
The court-ordered map changed districts 25 and 26, which are currently represented by Sens. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, and Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, respectively. Both senators have swapped districts for the 2026 election.
Earlier this month, the Legislature passed and Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation during a special session to allow a special election in the event the courts overturned the map. The legislation does not include a runoff. Currently, there are three Democratic candidates running in Senate District 25, including Hatcher.
The Supreme Court last week allowed Alabama to use the 2023 congressional map that Manasco and the rest of the panel ruled racially discriminatory. Plaintiffs are seeking to block it, arguing it remains discriminatory under the Callais standard. The court has scheduled a Friday hearing on the case.
From Alabama Reflector Post Url: Visit
Author: Anna Barrett