Key facts
- Supreme Court allowed Alabama to use a Republican-drawn congressional map.
- The map reduces Black-majority districts from two to one.
- A lower court had previously blocked the map for intentional discrimination against Black voters.
- The Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority lifted the judicial block.
- Alabama can use the map for its August 11 special primary election.
The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for Alabama to implement a pro-Republican congressional map, overturning a lower court's decision that had blocked its use. This new map reduces the number of congressional districts in Alabama where Black voters constitute a majority or near-majority from two to one. The three liberal justices on the Supreme Court dissented from the decision, which has a 6-3 conservative majority. Alabama Republicans had argued that forcing the state to use a court-drawn map would cause irreparable harm and that their map was drawn to meet legitimate districting goals. Lawyers for a group of black voters represented by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund countered that states have no legitimate interest in furthering racial discrimination. The ruling allows Alabama to use the map for its August 11 special primary election. This decision comes amid a broader trend of Republican-led states in the South redrawing congressional maps following a recent Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act. Similar redistricting efforts have occurred in Tennessee and Louisiana.