Alabama has filed an emergency appeal at the United States Supreme Court seeking permission to use its new congressional map expected to favor Republicans in the upcoming primary election.
This comes after a lower court ruled that the state’s proposed map is discriminatory against Black residents.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court decided in a case out of Louisiana that compliance with §2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which “prohibits racial discrimination in voting practices or procedures,” does not warrant an exception to the Constitution’s prohibition on race-based discrimination with respect to voting.
Alabama’s appeal was filed immediately after a three-judge panel blocked usage of the revised map for the election set to be held in August.
Instead, the panel ordered that Alabama use the court-devised map created in 2024 which includes two Black-majority districts.
Attorney General Steve Marshall has argued that the state did not intentionally discriminate against Black residents in drawing up its map and therefore should be permitted to use it in the upcoming election.
Alabama has been wrapped up in legal challenges over its redistricting attempts since it first adopted an updated map in light of the 2020 census.
While the original map was struck down for allegedly violating the Voting Rights Act by spreading Black voters across multiple districts, a second map that included a single Black-majority district was again challenged despite state officials offering alternative explanations for the boundaries drawn.
In the fall of 2023, the Supreme Court blocked Alabama from using this map in the 2024 election, leading to the implementation of a remedial map drawn by the district court.
[RELATED: SCOTUS Opens Door for Alabama to Use 2023 Congressional Map Ahead of Primary Election]
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court temporarily green lit the state’s use of its 2023 map with one majority-Black district for the upcoming primary election, with instructions for the appeals court to consider the question presented in light of the Justice’s ruling in the case out of Louisiana.
After further deliberation, the panel maintained that there was “undisputed evidence” of intentional racial discrimination on Alabama’s part in creating this map, resulting in a decision in favor of the challengers.
Alabama has now filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court in hopes that the Justices will overturn the lower court’s ruling against them.
Because the primaries are fast approaching, Alabama has asked the Supreme Court to act on their appeal by Monday, June 1.
Although Alabama’s primaries were previously scheduled to take place on May 19, primary elections in the districts impacted by the shifting congressional map were pushed ahead to August 11.
