The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Alabama to pursue a revised congressional map after ruling that lower court decisions requiring two majority-Black districts should be reconsidered.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Supreme Court of the United States on May 11 allowed Alabama to move forward with efforts to redraw its congressional districts following the high court’s recent ruling limiting the role race may play in redistricting decisions.
In a brief unsigned order, the Supreme Court vacated lower court rulings that had required Alabama to maintain a congressional map containing two majority-Black districts among the state’s seven U.S. House districts.
The decision came in a 6-3 ruling, according to documents released Monday through Court House News.
The ruling returns the dispute to lower courts and could accelerate Alabama’s efforts to implement a new congressional map ahead of upcoming elections.
Several Republican-led states are currently engaged in mid-decade redistricting efforts as parties seek to shape congressional boundaries before November elections that could determine control of the United States House of Representatives.
The Supreme Court’s decision follows last month’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, where the court held that race may only serve as a limited consideration in congressional redistricting and cannot be the predominant factor in drawing district boundaries.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor authored a dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“The Court today unceremoniously discards the District Court’s meticulously documented and supported discriminatory-intent finding and careful remedial order without any sound basis for doing so and without regard for the confusion that will surely ensue,” Sotomayor wrote in the dissent.
She added that the lower court remained free on remand to determine whether the Callais decision altered its previous constitutional analysis.
According to NBC News, the litigation has centered on whether Alabama must maintain a second majority-Black district under the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Civil rights organizations have challenged Alabama’s maps for years, arguing the state diluted Black voting power by failing to create an additional majority-Black district.
State officials argued that the Supreme Court’s recent guidance on race and redistricting required adjustments to the previously ordered map.
The decision also prompted reactions from election lawyers and political activists involved in ongoing redistricting litigation nationwide, including Democratic attorney Marc Elias, who criticized the ruling following the court’s action.
The Alabama ruling comes amid broader nationwide redistricting battles. Last week, Tennessee became the ninth state to approve a revised congressional map during the current round of redistricting disputes.
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