U.S. Supreme Court will allow Alabama to change Congressional districts
WASHINGTON, DC (WAKA) – The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for Alabama to adopt a new Congressional district map ahead of the 2026 elections, CBS News reports.
In a 6-3 decision, the court set aside lower court rulings that had blocked the state from using the map that had been drawn by the Alabama Legislature following the 202 Census. That map contained one majority-Black district, which is the District 7 seat that Democratic U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell holds..
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson were in dissent.
Sotomayor, joined by her two fellow liberal justices, wrote in a dissenting opinion that the move by the Supreme Court to toss out the district court’s decisions is “inappropriate and will cause only confusion as Alabamians begin to vote in the elections scheduled for next week.”
After the Legislature had passed the original map, the courts stepped in to redraw the map, saying Black Alabama voters should have a greater chance at electing a Black candidate. That map led to the election of Black Democrat Shomari Figures to the 2nd District in 2024.
Last week, the Alabama Legislature approved returning to the original map, which got the approval of Gov. Kay Ivey. That action was in anticipation of any U.S. Supreme Court action.
