Alabama asks Supreme Court to allow redistricting for 2026

State officials in Alabama asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to lift a lower-court ruling that thwarted a GOP congressional map that would likely leave Democrats with just one House seat.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed an emergency appeal with the high court just one day after a three-judge panel ruled that the state could not use a map this year that the legislature approved in 2023, which was never implemented due to legal challenges.

The 2023 map would likely produce a 6-1 split between Republicans and Democrats in Alabama’s Congressional delegation, as opposed to the current 5-2 divide. The expected shift would come from eliminating one of the state’s two majority Black districts, which are both currently held by Democrats.

The unanimous three-judge panel ruled that violated the Constitution’s 14th Amendment by discriminating against African-Americans and diluting their votes, but the state argued in its high court filing Wednesday that the lower court’s decision is legally flawed because it essentially forces the state to prioritize creating two majority Black districts over all other considerations.

“The State did not intentionally discriminate by declining to intentionally discriminate,” the state’s attorneys wrote. “Drawing an additional race-based district came at the cost of sacrificing communities of interest and pairing incumbents.”

Alabama’s lawyers said the lower court gave short shrift to the state’s “interest in giving a unified voice to the Gulf region” and unfairly accused the state’s legislature of racial animus.

Alabama asked the high court to rule by Monday and to grant an administrative stay immediately so that preparations for elections under the 2023 map can proceed in the meantime.

The emergency appeal was submitted to Justice Clarence Thomas, who has responsibility for emergency matters arising from Alabama, which is part of the 11th Circuit. Thomas is likely to refer the request to the full court for action.

Earlier this month, the high court granted a similar request from Alabama to lift an earlier lower-court block on the 2023 redistricting plan.

The justices’ decision ordered the lower court to reconsider its earlier ruling in light of a Supreme Court decision last month narrowing the application of the Voting Rights Act, but left open the possibility that the lower court might reissue its injunction based on the 14th Amendment’s equal protection guarantees. And on Tuesday, the lower court did just that.

Alabama held its primary elections earlier this month as scheduled, but declared in advance that it would not tally the results in the four Congressional districts that would be impacted by implementing the 2023 map. State officials plan to hold special elections in those districts on Aug. 11.