Federal Judges Block Alabama Map for November Redistricting In Alabama
A panel of federal judges blocked Alabama’s new congressional map on Tuesday, stopping the state from using it in the November midterm elections after finding redistricting in alabama discriminated against Black voters. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said he would immediately appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Birmingham-based court issued a 79-page ruling. The three-judge panel wrote that Alabama’s map “intentionally discriminated based on race in violation of the Constitution” and that it could not be used so shortly before a vote. The judges also said they were “painfully aware of the gravity of our ruling.”
Marshall Seeks Supreme Court Review
Marshall said he was “disappointed, but not at all surprised,” and added: “Know this, in my mind, it is not a matter of whether we win this case, only when.” His appeal heads first to the Supreme Court, which would be asked to review the ruling after the lower court acted under the high court’s updated standard.
The panel said it had reviewed the case through the lens of the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling last month. If the justices take the case, it would be the first major test of that new standard for challenging congressional maps.
Kay Ivey’s August Primaries
Gov. Kay Ivey had already set special primaries in August in four House districts affected by the state’s new congressional map. reported that the map would likely cost Democrats a majority-Black district, one of the central effects now put on hold by the ruling.
The judges said they were “in no doubt” when they reviewed the map, and wrote that Alabama’s plan “intentionally discriminated based on race in violation of the Constitution.” Judge Stanley Marcus, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, joined Judge Anna M. Manasco and Judge Terry F. Moorer on the panel; Manasco and Moorer were named to their posts by President Trump.
For Alabama voters, the ruling leaves the state without permission to use the new congressional lines for the 2026 elections as drawn. The map stays blocked unless the Supreme Court steps in, and the state has already said it will ask the justices to do that.
