By: Kloe Adams

Games Creator

The Supreme Court cleared the path for Alabama to use a new voting map for midterm elections. Previously, a lower court blocked Alabama’s voting map, which featured only one majority-minority district, on the basis that it violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. However, the Supreme Court threw out the lower-court hearing and sent the dispute back to the lower court for another look. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the decision. Sotomayor argued that the court’s order was “inappropriate and will cause only confusion as Alabamians begin to vote in the elections scheduled for next week.”

The dispute began when Alabama enacted a new congressional map following the 2020 census. Data from the census revealed that racial diversity in Alabama increased, with the share of white residents falling from 68% to 64% over the prior ten years, while Alabama’s Black population grew by 3.8% over the same period. To account for the population shifts, the Alabama legislature modified the existing districts. A group of Black voters and civil rights organizations went to federal court, arguing that the new map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Specifically, the map spread Black voters in southern Alabama across three congressional districts, leaving them a minority in each. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act specifically prohibits practices or procedures that discriminate based on race, color, or membership. The district court agreed that the map likely violated Section 2 and barred Alabama from using it. This ruling required Alabama to redraw its map to include a second majority Black district. The Supreme Court upheld that decision in the 2023 Supreme Court case, Allen v. Milligan. 

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Louisiana v. Callais provides a main point of argument for Alabama’s legislature. On Apr. 29, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map, which included a second majority-Black district, was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Alabama hopes to use this ruling as support for its congressional map, which would include only one majority-Black district. Attorney General Steve Marshall of Alabama commented on the recent ruling, saying, “For too long, unelected federal judges have had more say over Alabama’s elections than Alabama’s voters. That ended today.” 

Alabama set its primary election for May 19, but the state governor, Kay Ivey, signed legislation allowing for new U.S. House primaries if courts order the state to use different congressional districts. 

(Sources: AP News, CNN, NY Times)