WASHINGTON, May 27 - Alabama state officials asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to allow the state to implement a Republican-backed congressional map that would eliminate one of the two congressional districts in which Black voters make up a majority or near-majority.
The filing to the high court came after a federal three-judge panel on Tuesday barred the state from using the newly drawn map. That panel concluded the map was intentionally discriminatory and could not be used for the 2026 elections.
The contested map is designed to shift the partisan balance in one U.S. House district currently represented by a Black Democratic congressman, with state officials aiming to flip the seat to Republican control. The move takes place against the backdrop of the November midterm elections, as Republicans work to defend narrow majorities in both the House and the Senate. Black voters historically and typically support Democratic candidates.
This request to the Supreme Court is the latest chapter in a recurring legal battle over Alabama's congressional lines, which has alternated between the federal three-judge panel and the nation’s highest court in recent years. Republican state legislators are seeking to reinstate a map they approved in 2023 that the same three-judge panel previously found to be discriminatory.
Under the contested 2023 map, the number of districts where Black voters constitute a majority or near-majority would be reduced from two to one among Alabama's seven U.S. House districts. Black residents account for roughly one quarter of Alabama's population.
Earlier this month, on May 11, the Supreme Court temporarily granted Alabama’s request to lift the lower court's prior injunction that had prevented use of the map. In the Court’s action at that time, the three liberal justices filed a dissent suggesting the federal three-judge panel could later reimpose a judicial block on the legislature’s preferred lines.
That is the move the lower court carried out on Tuesday, prompting Alabama officials to return to the Supreme Court asking that the block be set aside and the Republican-backed map allowed for use. The state’s filing asks the justices to vacate or stay the panel’s ruling so the map could be used for upcoming elections.
Legal trajectory and stakes
The dispute reflects a broader round of congressional redistricting activity across the South in the wake of an April Supreme Court decision that substantially weakened provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Republican-led states have moved quickly to redraw districts following that ruling, and litigation over the legality of several of those maps is ongoing.
In Alabama, the litigation centers on whether the Republican-drawn map unlawfully dilutes Black voting strength by reducing the number of districts where Black voters have a realistic chance to elect their preferred candidates. The lower court’s recent determination that the map was intentionally discriminatory is the basis for barring its use in 2026, a decision now under review by the Supreme Court.
As the legal process proceeds, the outcome will determine which congressional map Alabama may use in coming election cycles and could affect control of a U.S. House district currently held by a Black Democratic member.