A panel of three federal judges on Tuesday issued a decision preventing Alabama from using a congressional map that would remove one of the state's two majority-Black U.S. House districts. In a detailed 79-page opinion, the court found that the map, backed by Republican lawmakers, intentionally discriminated against Black voters and therefore cannot be used for the 2026 elections.
The ruling directly undermines Republican efforts in Alabama to redraw districts in a way that could unseat a Democratic incumbent during the November midterm cycle. The judges' decision will be a significant constraint on the state as it prepares for the next set of federal contests.
Republican officials in Alabama said they are expected to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The state’s Republican governor, Kay Ivey, has already postponed the primary elections for four U.S. House of Representatives districts to August after those districts were redrawn under the contested map.
The Alabama decision is part of a wider pattern of aggressive congressional redistricting across several Southern states. The court ruling referenced a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in April that substantially weakened aspects of the Voting Rights Act, a development that has prompted Republican-led states to move quickly to alter congressional boundaries.
In recent weeks other states have taken similar steps. Tennessee and Louisiana have each dismantled a majority-Black U.S. House seat, and South Carolina’s state Senate was reported to be poised to approve a plan that would dismantle the district held by U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn, a Black Democrat who has occupied the seat since 1993.
The judges’ 79-page opinion centers on the finding that the Republican-drawn map intentionally disadvantaged Black voters, a legal determination with immediate consequences for Alabama’s electoral timetable and for the broader debate over redistricting in the South.
With an appeal to the Supreme Court anticipated, the dispute over Alabama’s congressional map is likely to continue through the federal judicial system, leaving the state's election officials and candidates facing uncertainty as they plan for the 2026 contests.