Supreme Court Allows Alabama’s 2023 Congressional Map for 2026 Elections, Reverses Lower Court Injunction 6-3

The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 per curiam order Tuesday evening allowing Alabama to use its 2023 congressional map for the 2026 elections. The order lifted an injunction that a lower court had placed last week after finding the map an unlawful racial gerrymander. The Supreme Court had previously directed the lower court to reconsider the case under the standard set in Louisiana v.

Callais. The six-justice majority said the lower court failed to follow the Callais ruling by not applying the presumption of legislative good faith and by treating the fact that voters of different races support different parties as evidence of racially polarized voting. The majority also noted that the lower court had altered the map weeks before Alabama’s rescheduled House primaries.

It added that the lower court’s view that court-imposed maps would be more convenient for the state was not a valid justification. The reinstated map eliminates one of Alabama’s two Black-majority districts. That seat had been safely Democratic; under the new lines it is expected to become a Republican-held district, shifting the state’s delegation from five Republicans and two Democrats to six Republicans and one Democrat.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented in an opinion joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Alabama had delayed primaries for the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 7th congressional districts to Aug. 11 after the state began implementing the map.

Tuesday’s ruling means those delays will not have been for nothing. Since the Callais decision in April, Republican-led states including Louisiana, Florida, and Tennessee have also redrawn congressional maps. Legislatures in Georgia, South Carolina, and Mississippi are considering similar changes after this year’s elections.

The map adopted three years ago features a majority-Black population in only one of Alabama’s seven congressional districts. Approximately 27% of Alabama’s population is Black. Under the 2024 court-drawn plan, Black residents constituted a majority or near-majority in two of the state’s seven congressional districts.

In 2023, a three-judge panel found that a map crafted by Republican state lawmakers intentionally diluted the voting power of Black citizens. The court had then recommended that the state should feature two districts where Black voters hold a majority or near-majority. Following the Supreme Court’s recent Louisiana decision, Alabama officials moved to implement the 2023 state-drawn map.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority subsequently agreed to lift the injunction that had blocked the map’s use, returning the case to the three-judge panel for reconsideration in light of the Louisiana ruling. In the interim, voters cast ballots in Alabama’s May 19 primaries, and Governor Ivey established the new special August primaries in the districts affected by the map change.

Upon further review, the judicial panel reiterated its initial finding, asserting "undisputed evidence" of intentional racial discrimination.

It maintained that the special congressional primaries should instead proceed under the previously court-approved districts. S. Representative Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat.

The map now sanctioned by Tuesday’s Supreme Court order provides the Republican Party with an opportunity to reclaim that South Alabama seat. Governor Kay Ivey declared the special primaries will be held August 11. 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.