Alabama officials asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to use the GOP-backed congressional map that was shot down by a lower court the day before.
The emergency appeal seeks to reinstate a map that would eliminate a majority-Black congressional district, helping the Republican Party secure another House seat ahead of November’s midterm elections.
On Tuesday, a court found the map unconstitutional for a second time due to discriminating against Black voters — a ruling the judges said is not affected by the Supreme Court’s decision last month narrowing the Voting Rights Act on how states can use race in redistricting. Alabama jumped to implement the map after the high court’s ruling.
Louisiana v. Callais “vindicates Alabama’s position on the lawfulness of the 2023 plan,” Alabama officials wrote in their filing to the Supreme Court. “Yet the district court decided in one week that Callais changed nothing.”
Alabama’s long-running redistricting battle stems from when the map was found intentionally discriminatory in 2023 by the same court that blocked it Tuesday.
The state’s map has been brought before the Supreme Court twice now.
In 2023, a court-ordered congressional map allowed for an additional majority-Black district, which led to the 2024 election of Rep. Shomari Figures — giving Alabama two Black members of Congress simultaneously for the first time in state history, joining longtime Rep. Terri Sewell. Republicans are hoping to flip Ms. Figures’ seat.
Alabama officials said in the filing that the map “was lawful then [in 2023], and it is lawful now.”
“Alabama and the public face irreparable harm unless a stay issues because they will be unable to use the State’s ’duly enacted plans’ for the 2026 election,” they said. “Worse still, voters will be forced to vote under a court-drawn racially gerrymandered map that does not meet Alabama’s legitimate districting goals.”
Defending the 2023 map, Attorney General Steve Marshall and other state Republicans argue the map was not designed with intentional racial discrimination and that the legislature should have the final say over elections.
Alabama asked the Supreme Court to decide on its request by Monday.
The state already held its primary election earlier this month, but Republican Gov. Kay Ivey set a special primary election for August in anticipation of the blocked congressional map being reimposed.
President Trump egged on a redistricting swarm across the country, with multiple red states finalizing or on the way to imposing redrawn districts to help the GOP maintain its razor-thin majority in the House.
