Alabama Congressional Map Voting Lawsuit: Supreme Court Lets Ivey Use 2023 Map
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey moved to change the state’s congressional lines after absentee voting had already begun in the May 19 primary election, and the U.S. Supreme Court later allowed the state to use a different map in the alabama congressional map voting lawsuit. The order lets Alabama discard the court-ordered map for the 2026 primary elections and turn back to a 2023 plan that lower courts had struck down.
Ivey called a special session to redraw the congressional and state senate districts. Lawmakers then passed legislation authorizing a new election for congressional and state senate seats, while state officials asked the Supreme Court to quickly lift the injunctions blocking use of the challenged map.
Supreme Court and Louisiana v. Callais
The justices issued their order after last month’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, a decision that made it harder for minority voters to show that electoral maps unlawfully dilute voting power. Alabama’s 2023 map had previously been found to violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, so the state is now using a map that courts had already rejected before this year’s order.
That sequence matters for voters because the map change came after absentee ballots were already in circulation. The state is not starting over from a blank page; it is shifting from a court-ordered plan back to one that had already been blocked in litigation.
Kay Ivey special session
Ivey’s special session covered both congressional and state senate districts, but the Supreme Court order affects only the congressional map. The separate injunction on the state legislative map remains in place, and a different challenge to that map is still pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
Two Alabama congressional redistricting cases are pending before the Supreme Court, giving the state more than one path for continued litigation. Voting rights advocates asked the court not to rush its decision, but the justices moved quickly enough to change which map Alabama can use for the 2026 primary elections.
Alabama 2026 primary elections
For voters, the practical result is simple: the 2026 primary elections will use the 2023 congressional map instead of the court-ordered version. That changes the lines on which congressional candidates run and the districts voters use, even though the election process was already underway when Alabama shifted course.
The map fight is not over. Congressionally, Alabama now has a Supreme Court order letting it proceed with the 2023 plan, while the state senate map stays tied up in the lower courts.
