WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, the Supreme Court permitted Alabama to implement a congressional map that benefits Republicans in the upcoming elections, overriding a lower court’s ruling that found the redistricting plan to be purposefully discriminatory against Black individuals.
The justices accepted Alabama’s urgent appeal to maintain a map established three years ago, which designates a majority-Black population in only one of the state’s seven congressional districts. The decision saw opposition from the court’s three liberal justices.
This decision marks the latest episode in a series of redistricting battles, integral to a larger effort by former President Donald Trump to secure the Republican Party’s narrow majority in the House for the November elections. The ruling was issued just before a critical deadline that Republican Governor Kay Ivey had previously extended, aiming to utilize the map for special primary elections in August.
Last week, Alabama’s Republican officials sought intervention from the Supreme Court after a three-judge panel denied the state’s request to implement its preferred map.
Previously, the lower court had mandated the use of a court-drawn map for the 2024 elections, which resulted in two Black Democrats being elected to Congress. This map accounted for a Black majority or near-majority in two out of Alabama’s seven congressional districts.
“The Supreme Court’s decision effectively allows Alabama and others to engage in blatant racial discrimination against Black voters without repercussions. This ruling, which reinstates a map with clear racial biases, disregards any consistent or thoughtful application of the law,” stated Deuel Ross, the director of litigation for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, on Tuesday evening.
He said the fund will “continue to throw all of our resources into the fight to ensure that Alabama voters have the fair representation that they deserve.”
Shortly after the court acted, Ivey confirmed that the state will use the map in special congressional primaries in four districts on Aug. 11.
“The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what I have said all along and that is that Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best. Today’s decision is a win for the people of Alabama and our elections. Alabama is doing our part to keep America strong, and I am proud our state continues to fight the fight to ensure activists do not get the final say,” Ivey said.
“I will see y’all at the polls August 11!” she said.
The order is the latest development in the fallout from last month’s Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Black-majority district in Louisiana and weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. That ruling has led Republicans in several Southern states, including Alabama, to take steps to reshape voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.
The Alabama cases stretches back several years. The three-judge panel in 2023 ruled that a map drawn by Republican state lawmakers intentionally diluted the voting power of Black citizens. The court said the state, which is about 27% Black, should have two districts where Black voters are the majority or close to it.
After the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Louisiana case, Alabama officials moved to implement the 2023 state-drawn map. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority agreed to lift the injunction that had blocked the map’s use and sent the case back to the three-judge panel for reconsideration in light of the Louisiana ruling.
In the meantime, voters cast ballots in Alabama’s May 19 primaries, and Ivey set the new special August primaries in the districts affected by the map switch.
Upon further review, the judicial panel said it was standing behind its initial finding that there was “undisputed evidence” of intentional racial discrimination.
It said the special congressional primaries should instead proceed under the previous court-approved districts.
The panel was wrong, the high court’s conservative majority wrote in an unsigned opinion that said the lower court “did not heed the presumption of legislative good faith.”
In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor chastised her colleagues for enabling what promises to be “a chaotic election, held under a never-before-used congressional map that intentionally discriminates against Black Alabamians.”
The use of the court-ordered map led to the 2024 election of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. The map put into place by Tuesday’s order gives the GOP an opportunity to reclaim the south Alabama seat.
___
Associated Press writer Kim Chandler contributed to this report from Montgomery, Ala.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
