By David Lieb and
Mark Sherman
Contributing Writers
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The Supreme Court this week allowed Alabama to use a congressional map favoring Republicans in this year’s elections, blocking a lower court ruling that the redistricting plan is biased against Black people.
An NAACP spokesman called the ruling “shameless,” saying that it allows the state to ‘intentionally discriminate” against Black voters in Alabama and opens the door to similar maneuvers in other states.
The justices granted Alabama’s emergency appeal to use a map it adopted three years ago that has a majority-Black population in just one of its seven congressional districts. The three liberal justices dissented.
The high court order is the latest development in a redistricting frenzy that is part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to try to hold on to Republicans’ slim House majority in the November elections.
The state’s Republican leadership went to the Supreme Court last week, the day after a three-judge court refused to let the state use its preferred map.
The lower court had ordered Alabama to use the same court-drawn map it used in the 2024 elections that sent two Black Democrats to Congress. Black residents comprise a majority or close to it in two of the state’s seven congressional districts.
“The Supreme Court’s decision gives cover to Alabama and others to deliberately and openly discriminate against Black voters without fear of any consequence,” said Deuel Ross, director of litigation for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “The court’s shameless decision to reinstate an intentionally racially discriminatory map defies any thoughtful or consistent application of the law.”
He said the fund will “continue to throw all of our resources into the fight to ensure that Alabama voters have the fair representation that they deserve.”
Shortly after the court acted, Ivey confirmed that the state will use the map in special congressional primaries in four districts on Aug. 11.
“The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what I have said all along and that is that Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best,” Ivey said. “Today’s decision is a win for the people of Alabama and our elections. Alabama is doing our part to keep America strong, and I am proud our state continues to fight the fight to ensure activists do not get the final say.
“I will see y’all at the polls August 11!” she said.
The order is the latest development in the fallout from last month’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.
The ruling also is widely expected to sharply cut the number of Black members of Congress and significantly undermine Black political power in the U.S.
A no-holds-barred bout of partisan redistricting across the nation, meanwhile, has been won by Republicans. Now it’s up to voters to decide whether it matters for control of Congress.
Republicans could net about 10 additional U.S. House seats in the November elections if redrawn voting districts perform as they were intended. The question is whether that’s enough for the GOP to hold on to a majority in the chamber, where Democrats need to gain only a few seats to take control.
Political trends and historic patterns favor Democrats. President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are negative. And the incumbent’s party has lost House seats in every midterm election over the past two decades.
This election season already has been unusual. Voting districts typically are redrawn only after a census at the start of each decade. But Trump urged Republicans last summer to redraw congressional districts to their advantage to try to prevent losses in the 2026 midterms.
Since then, Republicans think they could win as many as 16 additional seats from new House maps enacted in eight states — Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama. Democrats, whose counterattack faced several setbacks, think they could win up to six additional seats from new districts in California and Utah.
Nearly 145 million people — about two of every five U.S. residents — live in states with new congressional districts for this election.
Yet the mid-decade redistricting battle didn’t go as far as it could have.
Republicans in Kansas and Democrats in Illinois both rebuffed party pushes to take up redistricting. In Republican-led Indiana and South Carolina and Democratic-led Maryland, new congressional districts passed the state House but ultimately died in the state Senate.
The Virginia Supreme Court invalidated new voter-approved districts that could have helped Democrats win up to four additional seats. And the U.S. Supreme Court set aside a lower court order that could have helped Democrats gain a congressional seat in New York.
David Lieb and Mark ShermanWave staff contributed to this report.
