Alabama Races to Supreme Court After Panel Blocks GOP Map as Racially Discriminatory

A map struck down, then rushed back up

A three-judge federal panel in Birmingham on Tuesday blocked Alabama from using its 2023 congressional map in the 2026 midterms, ruling unanimously that the Republican-drawn lines were "tainted by intentional race-based discrimination" against Black voters.alabamareflector +1 Within 24 hours, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed an emergency stay application at the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the justices to rule by 10 a.m. on June 1 so the state can run an August 11 special primary under the disputed map.al Justice Clarence Thomas, who handles emergency matters from the 11th Circuit, ordered responses by 4 p.m. on June 1.al

A 79-page rebuke citing "only one inference"

The panel — Trump appointees Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer alongside Clinton appointee Stanley Marcus — wrote in a 79-page opinion that the 2023 plan "made it impossible not only to remediate the vote dilution we identified, but also to respect the longstanding community of interest the Legislature identified in Alabama's Black Belt."alabamareflector The judges concluded that legislators' contemporaneous statements about race "support only one inference: the purpose of the 2023 Plan was to distribute Black voters across districts to dilute their votes, at least in part because they are Black."alabamareflector They found "no evidence of a partisan motive," rejecting the state's central defense.alabamareflector The remedial map the panel reinstated produced the 2024 election of Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, only the second Black member of Alabama's seven-seat House delegation.alabamareflector +1

Callais looms over the emergency docket

Alabama's filing leans heavily on Louisiana v. Callais, the 6-3 ruling on April 29 that sharply curtailed how Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act constrains redistricting.cnn "Callais vindicates Alabama's position on the lawfulness of the 2023 Plan," Marshall wrote, arguing the district court "decided in one week that Callais changed nothing."al The Supreme Court had already cleared the way for the 2023 map on May 11 over dissents from Justices Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson, sending the case back for reconsideration — only to see the panel reach the same result on intentional-discrimination and 14th Amendment grounds.cnn +1 The state is also invoking the Purcell principle, warning of "irreparable harm" if courts alter election rules this close to the vote.cnn +1

A House seat — and a doctrine — in the balance

Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday extended the candidate-certification deadline to June 3 and said she was "hopeful the Supreme Court quickly gives Alabama a favorable response so we can move forward with the August 11 Special Primary Election using our 2023 congressional map."al Primaries for the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th districts were held back from Alabama's May 19 ballot precisely to await this ruling.politico If the justices grant the stay, Figures's seat becomes one of the likeliest GOP pickups in a midterm cycle in which mid-decade redistricting has already reshaped the fight for House control.cnn +1 If they deny it, the panel's finding of intentional discrimination — reached under Callais's tougher standard — becomes a template for challengers in other states.cnn