Court Blocks Alabama’s 2023 Congressional Map Over Racial Discrimination

A federal district court on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking Alabama from using the congressional map adopted by its GOP-led legislature in 2023. The plan, which includes only one majority-Black district, was found to be intentionally racially discriminatory and in violation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Instead, the court ordered Alabama to continue using a court-selected map that features two majority-Black districts, the lines under which the state held its 2024 elections.

The three-judge panel stated, “Ultimately, we cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.” This ruling marks the latest development in a protracted legal battle over Alabama’s congressional districts.

The case returned to the district court following a recent Supreme Court decision that weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Although the Supreme Court had previously lifted a separate injunction, allowing Alabama to use the 2023 map for the midterms, it subsequently sent the case back to the lower court for further consideration. Alabama officials had moved quickly to implement the legislature’s map despite ongoing legal challenges.

The district court judges emphasized that the Alabama legislature was aware that the 2023 plan, which reduced the number of Black-majority districts from two to one, would dilute Black Alabamians’ political influence. “The Legislature well knew that a plan without an additional Black-opportunity district would dilute Black Alabamians’ opportunity to participate in the political process, and it intentionally enacted that very plan,” the ruling said.

The court also addressed the Purcell principle, which cautions against federal court intervention in election laws close to elections. The judges concluded that enforcing the court-selected map would avoid administrative confusion and logistical challenges, stating, “Enjoining the unconstitutional 2023 Plan will improve the administrative situation in Alabama, not worsen it.”

The ruling highlighted that the Alabama legislature had previously refused to comply with court orders to redraw the map to include a second Black-majority district, a refusal the judges noted as unprecedented. While the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Callais weakened the VRA, the district court found that the 2023 map still violates the VRA under the new standards and the Constitution.

Alabama is expected to seek further review from the Supreme Court to overturn Tuesday’s injunction. The question remains whether the high court will continue to allow challenges to racial gerrymandering under the Equal Protection Clause, a matter not addressed in the recent Callais ruling but significant given the Court’s recent voting rights jurisprudence.