Federal Court Bars Alabama From Using Racially Gerrymandered Map
Apparently, Alabama’s proposed congressional map is so racist it even meets the high bar set after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act.
Black News 
Primary elections in Alabama and several other southern states became unnecessarily complicated after the Supreme Court effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act last month. Alabama postponed the primary election in several districts so state legislators could move forward with implementing a map previously found to be racially gerrymandered. While it looked like they would have no problem using the map as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling, a panel of federal judges ruled that, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, the map still can’t be used.
According to the New York Times, Alabama had tried and failed to use the map in previous elections. In fact, the Supreme Court previously ruled that the map was racially gerrymandered, though that didn’t stop the court from paving the way for it to be litigated again. In fact, the map was so blatantly racist that the court ordered an independent special master to redraw Alabama’s map and barred the state from any redistricting efforts until 2030.
Do you know how racist your map has to be for the court to put the state legislature in time out? Do you know how racist a map has to be for it to still be found racially gerrymandered in the wake of the Callais decision? If a map could be used as a slur, it would probably be the Alabama map.
“We cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” the panel of three judges wrote in their ruling. The panel added that while they were “painfully aware of the gravity of our ruling,” they did “not find the issue particularly complex or close.”
From the New York Times:
In the 79-page ruling, the judges said they faced a difficult choice. They could either greenlight a map they had already concluded was intentionally discriminatory, or they could block that map for the current election.
The judges wrote that they did “not lightly intrude in state affairs,” but that their previous review had left them “in no doubt” that Alabama’s map “intentionally discriminated based on race in violation of the Constitution.”
The panel explained that it had reviewed the case under the Supreme Court’s updated standard, which appears to allow partisan gerrymandering but sets a high standard to challenge maps for race discrimination.
Can’t front y’all, this one surprised me. After the Supreme Court’s ruling in Callais v. Louisiana, there was palpable glee from state Republicans at the prospect of being able to legally disenfranchise Black voters. State legislators in Tennessee could be seen laughing at protesters as they passed a bill eliminating the state’s only majority Black district. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry was entirely dismissive of the fact that the votes of 40,000 people were thrown out so the state could implement a map that further disenfranchises those voters.
While the panel’s ruling was undoubtedly a dub for democracy, it only adds more confusion to Alabama’s primary elections. Earlier this month, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey postponed the May primaries to August for districts affected by the map, which created confusion among Alabama voters. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall told reporters that he intends to immediately appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, which may only further the confusion should the map be approved so close to an election.
SEE ALSO:
Supreme Court Paves Way For Alabama To Use Racially Gerrymandered Map
Federal Court Rules Alabama’s Racist Voting Map Dilutes Black Voting Power…Again
