SCOTUS allows Alabama to move forward with 2023 congressional maps

The Supreme Court has granted a request from Alabama Republican leaders to lift a block on the state using a congressional map adopted by the legislature in 2023. This comes after the court ruled in late April that a Louisiana map that was ordered to be made with a second black-majority district was an "unconstitutional racial gerrymander."

The unsigned order vacates a US District Court ruling on the matter and hands the case back to the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit for further consideration in light of the Louisiana decision. 

Alabama’s 2023 map that was adopted by the Legislature had only one majority-black district. A federal court ruled that the map had violated the Voting Rights Act, and required the state to redraw it with a second majority-minority district. Under the court-imposed map, Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures was elected. Monday’s ruling removes an injunction that required Alabama to use the court-imposed map.

In the Louisiana decision, the court ruled 6-3 that the Voting Rights Act "did not require Louisiana to create an additional majority-minority district." A lower court had initially ruled that the state violated the act when it redrew the map to have one black-majority district. 

In the Alabama order, the court’s three liberal justices argued that the state’s case was not affected by the Louisiana ruling because there was a "constitutional finding of intentional discrimination is independent of" the legal issues discussed in the Louisiana case. "Vacatur is thus inappropriate and will cause only confusion as Alabamians begin to vote in the elections scheduled for next week."

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed into law a measure on Friday that authorizes a special election for lawmakers whose district boundaries would be changed as a result of reverting to the older map. Ivey said, "With this special session successfully behind us, Alabama now stands ready to quickly act, should the courts issue favorable rulings in our ongoing redistricting cases. I thank the Legislature for answering my call to address the issue in fast order. I am grateful to Speaker Ledbetter and Pro Tem Gudger for their strong leadership and focus this week. Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best."