The Supreme Court has overturned a federal court order that barred Alabama from using its congressional redistricting map, allowing the state to deploy the 2023 plan it adopted after the 2020 census. The justices sent the dispute back to lower courts for further review following their decision this week.
This ruling follows the high court’s recent decision in Louisiana, where a majority ruled that a majority-Black U.S. House district was an unconstitutional gerrymander. In her dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized the order as “inappropriate” and warned it would cause confusion ahead of Alabama’s primary election.
The redistricting dispute began five years ago when Alabama enacted a new congressional map. Black voters and civil rights organizations challenged it in federal court, arguing that it diluted Black voting strength by spreading them across three districts, leaving them minorities in each. A district court initially found the 2021 map likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and barred its use. The Supreme Court upheld that ruling in Allen v. Milligan.
In late 2023, Alabama adopted a new map, but federal courts later concluded it also likely violated Section 2. The justices declined to temporarily halt the lower court’s order. A court-appointed special master created an interim map, which the district court ordered Alabama to use. In 2025, a federal trial court ruled that the 2023 map did indeed violate the Voting Rights Act by being “an intentional effort to dilute Black Alabamians’ voting strength.”
Alabama petitioned the Supreme Court to review its case, but the justices delayed their decision until after their April 29 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. On Friday, Alabama sought immediate relief from lower courts to use the map ahead of a primary election scheduled for May 19.
In anticipation of potential reversal, Alabama officials enacted legislation allowing them to void results from certain congressional districts’ primaries and hold new elections under revised boundaries.
Rep. Shomari Figures (D-AL) called the Supreme Court decision “an incredibly unfortunate” ruling that risks reverting Black political representation in Alabama to the 1950s and 1960s. He stated: “The conservative justices on the Supreme Court just literally substituted themselves in to be the defense lawyers for the State of Alabama.”
He added: “This Supreme Court did not dismiss the case, so the litigation will certainly continue. My hope is that this is a temporary setback and that three-Republican appointed judges will again find what they found the first time: that the State of Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black voters in drawing its congressional district lines. I ran for this seat to be a voice for all of Alabama, and I’m not backing down from that mission now. The fight must and will go on.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall praised the decision, saying it “vindicated the state’s long-held position” and returned map-drawing authority to the legislature, which he claims will create a congressional map “that favors Republicans seven-to-zero.” Republican House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter described the ruling as “a massive victory not just for Alabama, but for conservatives across the country.”
In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted that while the Voting Rights Act violation was resolved, a lower court could still find Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black voters in violation of the 14th Amendment.