Federal Court Blocks Alabama Plan for New Congressional Districts That Could Help Republicans

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: US News & World Report/AP

May 26, 2026, at 10:04 a.m


Federal judges on Tuesday temporarily blocked Alabama's plan to use a new congressional map that could give Republicans an advantage in a key House race in the midterm elections.

A three-judge panel in the state's long-running redistricting case issued the preliminary injunction that prevents the state, at least for now, from switching maps. It requires the state to continue using the same court-ordered districts under which congressional representatives were elected in 2024.

Lawyers representing Black voters in the state's lengthy redistricting case had sought the preliminary injunction, arguing the same panel in 2023 found the state map was intentionally discriminatory against Black voters. They also argued Alabama was creating chaos by trying to change lines in the middle of an election year. The ruling was a defeat for state Republicans who want to use a map for the November midterms that will give the GOP a chance to reclaim the seat now held by Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures. However, the state could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court order is the latest development in the twisting legal and political saga following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Black-majority district in Louisiana and weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. That ruling has led Republicans in several Southern states, including Alabama, to take steps to reshape voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2026-05-26/federal-court-blocks-alabama-plan-for-new-congressional-districts-that-could-help-republicans

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Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.alnd.179302/gov.uscourts.alnd.179302.537.0_4.pdf

Link to Democracy Docket REPORT - Court blocks Alabama racial gerrymander from being used in 2026 elections

[70sEraVet]

1. We'll take whatever good news we can get

But I'm sure the Six Supremes will 'fix' THAT!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Federal court blocks redistricting map created to help GOP in Alabama

The decision is a win for Democrats. The map had been designed to give Republicans an edge in six of seven congressional districts in the state for November’s elections.

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/26/court-blocks-map-meant-help-republicans-alabama

A federal court Tuesday blocked Alabama from using a map designed to give Republicans an edge in six of seven congressional districts in the state, delivering Democrats a win — at least for now — amid a national battle over how political lines are drawn.

The unanimous three-judge panel ruled the state could not use its map because the court had years ago determined it “represents an intentional effort to crack the Black population in Alabama.”

The judges told the state for now to use the map that was in effect for the last election. Under that map, the state sent five White Republicans and two Black Democrats to Congress.

But the judges also left the Republican-run legislature the opportunity to draw the state’s congressional map yet again. That gives Republicans a chance to engineer a new map favoring them. They could also appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

[SSJVegeta]

3. The new rationale seems to be against anything racially biased

Changing a map to eliminate the influence of black votes so only whites have a majority is clearly that. Good on these judges.

[groundloop]

4. The Supreme Court will very quickly reverse this small win.

[SSJVegeta]

5. Then they will have to reconcile with why they are allowing racially based decisions

If they cannot give a thorough explanation why eliminating a district based on race is not racially biased, the lower courts will continue to have free reign over this issue

[riversedge]

6. NYT: Alabama is likely to appeal the ruling, which stops an effort to use a new congressional map that would likely cost

Court Rejects Alabama House Map, Calling It Unfair to Black Voters

Alabama is likely to appeal the ruling, which stops an effort to use a new congressional map that would likely cost Democrats a majority-Black district.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/us/politics/alabama-congress-map-redistricting.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lVA.sk44.4nw0wHdo5p-e&smid=url-share


Listen · 7:13 min

Demonstrators with banners that read “The South will not be silenced,” on the famed Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
People march for voting rights on the famed Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., in May.Credit...Wes Frazer for The New York Times
Emily CochraneAbbie VanSickle

By Emily Cochrane and Abbie VanSickle

Emily Cochrane, who lives in Nashville, has covered Alabama’s redistricting process since 2023. Abbie VanSickle covers the Supreme Court from Washington.
May 26, 2026Updated 12:03 p.m. ET
See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The New York Times on Google

A panel of federal judges on Tuesday rejected Alabama’s effort to use a new voting map for the November midterm elections, saying that the districts discriminated against Black people and could not be used so shortly before a vote.

Alabama’s attorney general, Steve Marshall, said he would immediately appeal to the Supreme Court, which last month ruled that a Louisiana congressional map drawn to create two majority-Black House districts was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, has already set special primaries in August in four House districts that would be affected by her state’s new congressional map.

The ruling further confuses the electoral landscape across the South, as Republican-led legislatures have raced to implement new district lines after the Supreme Court narrowed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It also demonstrates how the ruling from the nation’s highest court has further muddled how lower courts interpret the landmark civil rights law...............