Alabama must use independently drawn congressional maps that created a second Black-majority district more favorable to Democrats in the state for the rest of the decade, a federal court said Thursday.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama ruled unanimously that the state must use the map drawn up by a court-appointed special master until regular redistricting is scheduled to be done in 2030.
The decision, which enabled Democrats to gain a seat in the last election, comes as both parties gear up for competing redistricting efforts in response to a move by Texas to redraw boundaries to improve the chances that Republicans will pick up five additional seats. The court in Alabama barred the state from using a map drawn in 2023 that did not include a second Black-majority district in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling.
Two of the judges, Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer, were appoint to their seats by President Donald Trump. The third, Stanley Marcus, was appointed by President Bill Clinton.
In May, the same panel of judges ruled the state’s 2023 map violated the Voting Rights Act, and chastised Alabama’s legislature for deliberately ignoring court rulings to draw the maps with a second predominantly Black district.
Last year, after the state implemented maps drawn by the special master, Rep. Shomari Figures won the state’s redrawn 2nd Congressional District, giving Democrats two seats in Alabama’s congressional delegation.
The court also denied a request to have the Department of Justice approve any changes in the state’s maps going forward — a move DOJ said it opposed in June.
The ruling comes as both Republicans and Democrats mount aggressive mid-cycle redistricting campaigns across the country, triggered by President Donald Trump’s push to redraw the maps in Texas.
Alabama Republicans have previously signaled they may appeal the ruling again to the Supreme Court, potentially offering another opportunity to rule on the Voting Rights Act’s statutes on race-based redistricting. The court is already weighing a similar issue regarding Louisiana’s congressional maps.