US Supreme Court ends order requiring Alabama to have two Black congressional districts

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ended an order requiring Alabama to have two Black majority districts in the U.S. House of Representatives. Alabama will revert to having one majority Black congressional district this year as part of a 6-3 Supreme Court decision that upended next week’s states primary elections. The conservative-leaning court vacated the ruling by an Alabama federal court that led to the creation of two Black districts in light of the ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. All three members of the court’s liberal wing — Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, dissented. In a dissent to Monday’s brief ruling, Sotomayor said the Louisiana case had reversed only one of the grounds upon which the Alabama case had been decided. Sotomayor said a lower court could still find that Alabama had intentionally discriminated against Black voters in violation of the 14th Amendment. That landmark redistricting case earlier this month found that Louisiana’s racial gerrymanders were unconstitutional. Alabama’s primary is May 19. The high court’s order today, which specifically mentioned the Callais case, means Alabama could go ahead and use a map approved by the Republican-led state Legislature that only has one majority Black district. An injunction had blocked Alabama from changing its maps for congressional and state legislative districts until 2030, but the Supreme Court’s decision Monday made that order moot. Alabama had been enjoined from changing its congressional district and state legislative maps until 2030, after prior efforts to make changes ended up in court. But the state decided to take a stab again after the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision in April weakened the Voting Rights Act. Alabama’s Republican leaders want to use maps that courts previously ruled were “intentionally discriminatory.” They want to cement the state’s Republican supermajority — and help send more Republicans to Congress. New congressional maps would be more favorable to Republican voters, and would concentrate Black voters into one district, instead of two. U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, condemned the ruling that allows Alabama to eliminate the majority Black district he currently represents. “My hope is that this is a temporary setback and that three-Republican appointed judges will again find what they found the first time: that the State of Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black voters in drawing its congressional district lines,” Figures said. “I ran for this seat to be a voice for all of Alabama, and I’m not backing down from that mission now. The fight must and will go on.” The ruling came on the heels of a filing in the case on behalf of state Sen. Bobby Singleton read. ”Less than a week ago, while tornado sirens blasted and flooding forced the Alabama legislative chambers to be evacuated, an unlawful and unconstitutional bill was rammed through by White legislators,” the filing read. “That bill intends to void Alabama’s May 19 primary elections in opportunity districts, including votes already cast, and to cut in half Alabama’s Black representation in Congress.” Singleton’s filing said scrapping the two Black district map days before a primary would be “a prescription for chaos for candidates, campaign organizations, independent groups, political parties, and voters.” Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case, on Monday told The Associated Press that he is disappointed in the decision but added that it could be a “call to action” for voters. “We are not defeated by this,” Milligan said. Deuel Ross of the Legal Defense Fund, an attorney for Milligan and other voters, told AL.com that his clients “are deeply disappointed that the Supreme Court has temporarily cleared the way for Alabama to use an intentionally discriminatory map. “The Court’s decision interferes with the ongoing election and puts the validity of the votes of thousands of early voters into doubt,” Ross said in a statement. “We will consider all of our options for protecting the rights of voters and reinstating the court ordered map.” Secretary of State Wes Allen, the defendant in the Milligan case, issued this statement after the judgment: “Today, the Supreme Court granted my motion in a historic win for Alabama voters. The May 19 Primary Election will proceed as scheduled. My Office will remain in close contact with the Governor’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office as this situation continues developing. I appreciate the hard work of Alabama’s local election officials as we continue to work towards the administration of a secure, transparent, and accountable election.” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who filed motions to stay a lower court’s injunction in the redistricting case, said the Supreme Court’s decision justified the state’s “right to fight” racially gerrymandered maps. “Let’s be clear about what happened here: Alabama originally drew its maps around geography and communities ... and a federal court punished us for us. Today, the Supreme Court vindicated the state’s long-held position,” he said in a video statement. “For too long, unelected federal judges have had more say over Alabama’s elections than Alabama’s voters. That ended today,” Marshall continued. Rep. Terri Sewell called the ruling a “direct attack on Black voters in Alabama.” The Democrat representing District 7 said “the Court’s right-wing majority has completely ignored its previous rulings in order to give state officials the green light to suppress Black representation in Alabama.” Sewell promised to keep fighting on behalf of Black Alabama voters. “Black Alabamians have fought too hard and sacrificed too much to be dragged backward by extremist politicians and an activist Court. Black voters make up nearly one-third of Alabama’s electorate and we deserve no less than two seats where we can select a candidate of our choice. We are not going back!” “We are witnessing a return to Jim Crow. And anybody who is alarmed by these developments — as everybody should be — better be making a plan to vote in November to put an end to this madness while we still can," NAACP National President Derrick Johnson said in a statement. Deuel Ross, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney who argued the Alabama case, said, “We will consider all of our options to fight to protect the rights of these voters and keep the court ordered map in place.” Shalela Dowdy, a plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case, said she was disappointed in the decision. “For me, I feel like this is a step backwards towards the Jim Crow era for congressional representation. The state is not going to stop here,” Dowdy said, predicting Alabama will eventually go after the remaining district. The ballots are printed, and for Republicans living in the 1^st congressional district, seven names will be on the May 19 primary ballot. However, that is among the contests likely to be invalidated, said Alabama State Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine. It will be up to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to set a special election for the congressional primaries for the 1, 2, 6 and 7 districts. The 2nd District, which had become a minority leaning district now reverts back to a majority white and Republican district. “This puts us back to where we were when the Legislature passed these maps,” said Elliott, who sponsored SB1 during last week’s special session that also triggers a special election for two Alabama State Senate seats — Districts 25 and 26 in the Montgomery area. “It is up to the governor,” he said. “We’re back to the 2023 map. How do you deal with this? You’ll see the governor call a special election, and we’ll work it backwards.” Elliott said that the June 16 runoff date could be a possibility for the congressional primaries under the pre-2023 map. The legislation adopted during the special session does not include a primary runoff meaning that the primary elections will be winner-takes-all. Elliott said he would like to see the runoff date considered as it would avoid having to spend extra tax money to hold a special election. State Rep. Rhett Marques, previously a leading candidate in next week’s 1st Congressional District GOP primary, now says he will run in District 2. Former U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl of Mobile said he will remain in the 1st congressional district. AL.com has reached out to a spokesperson for comment from Ivey. This is a developing story and will be updated. AL.com journalists Ruth Serven Smith, Patrick Darrington, John Sharp and The Associated Press contributed to this report.