Protestors march in Selma, Alabama as part of the All Roads Lead to the South rally on May 16, 2026. A three-judge federal panel Tuesday blocked Alabama's use of a congressional map it had previously ruled racially discriminatory. (Andi Rice for Alabama Reflector)
A three-judge panel on Tuesday morning blocked Alabama from using a 2023 congressional map the panel ruled racially discriminatory and ordered the state to use a remedial map aimed at giving Black Alabamians a chance to elect their preferred leaders.
The order comes almost a month after the U.S. Supreme Court substantially weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in a case known as Louisiana v. Callais, and weeks after Gov. Kay Ivey called a special session in which Republican lawmakers set special primaries for August in the expectation that the state would be allowed to use the 2023 map, which would likely cost Democrats a seat in Alabama’s U.S. House delegation.
The panel was ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court to reevaluate its ruling on the map in light of its April ruling. But at a hearing on Friday, the panel expressed skepticism toward the state’s argument on that the 2023 map was drawn with partisan intent, not to dilute Black voters. The same three-judge panel previously found that the map was intentionally racially discriminatory and issued a “race-blind” map that led to the election of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, of the 2nd Congressional District.
Messages seeking comment from Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Secretary of State Wes Allen, Ivey and Deuel Ross, the plaintiffs’ attorney, were left Tuesday morning.
The judges, U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, U.S. District Judge Terry Moorer, appointed by President Donald Trump; and U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, wrote in the 79-page opinion that the state’s argument contradicted its arguments made in 2023, and said that its 2023 map “made it impossible not only to remediate the vote dilution we identified, but also to respect the longstanding community of interest the Legislature identified in Alabama’s Black Belt.”
“These events, along with legislators’ contemporaneous statements about race, support only one inference: the purpose of the 2023 Plan was to distribute Black voters across districts to dilute their votes, at least in part because they are Black,” the panel wrote in the filing. “Counsel argues mightily that the Legislature’s partisan motives drove the creation of the 2023 Plan, but this enormous record contains no evidence of a partisan motive. And the only evidence on the issue cuts against one: Alabama’s legislative leadership testified that overtures from national party leaders did not affect their work.”
It is unclear how the special primary election will proceed. The judges ordered Allen to administer all “remaining events comprising Alabama’s 2026 congressional elections” according to the court-ordered map. That order will expire when the Legislature passes a new district map. The state last year agreed to use the current remedial map until 2030.
Messages seeking comment with the 21 qualified candidates for the special primary election, which is set for Aug. 11, were left Tuesday morning.
In a post on social media, Figures said he expected the ruling, but also expects the state to appeal to the Supreme Court.
“This is a significant step in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go before this fight is settled,” he wrote.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
This story was updated at 10:03 a.m. to include a statement from U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, on the ruling.
From Alabama Reflector Post Url: Visit
Author: Anna Barrett