State of Alabama files appeal to U.S. Supreme Court over congressional district map
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) – The State of Alabama has filed for an emergency stay with U.S. Supreme Court in the ongoing congressional redistricting case.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall today filed emergency applications with the U.S. Supreme Court in Allen v. Singleton, Allen v. Caster and Allen v. Milligan, challenging a preliminary injunction that was issued yesterday by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
That injunction blocks the state from using its 2023 congressional districting plan in the 2026 elections. The injunction says Alabama must use the court-drawn Congressional district map and not the map approved in the recent special session of the Alabama Legislature. The major difference in the maps is how the Second Congressional District is drawn. The district includes Montgomery and many other parts of the Action 8 viewing area.
The map drawn up by the federal courts was used in the 2024 election and was designed to allow Black voters a greater chance at representation. It led to the election of Democrat Shomari Figures to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Alabama Congressional District Map as drawn up by the federal courts and used in the 2024 elections – Photo from Alabama Secretary of State’s Office
The map approved by the Legislature would generally restore the 2nd District to the lines that had been in place before that election, which favor the election of a Republican. The Legislature used as a basis for its action a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a Congressional district in Louisiana in the case Louisiana v. Callais because the court said race was too much of a factor in how it was drawn up.
Today’s applications, directed to Associate Justice Clarence Thomas as Circuit Justice for the Eleventh Circuit, ask the Court to stay the district court’s order and request a ruling before Monday, June 1. The State also requests an immediate administrative stay to allow election preparations to resume in the interim.
“Yesterday’s decision was disappointing but was not surprising. The Supreme Court made it clear in Callais that courts should not impose or require states to draw racially gerrymandered congressional maps. But the three-judge district court set that rule aside and once again replaced Alabama’s map with one that sorts voters based on race,” Attorney General Marshall said. “The extent to which there is confusion about the maps which Alabama uses for congressional districts seems to be with the three-judge panel, not the voters. The fact that our State’s conservative electorate has conservative representation is democracy, not an attack on it.”
Congressional races in districts 1, 2, 6 and 7 remain in limbo. The state said the results of the May 19 primaries would not count because they were held under the court-drawn map. The state set special primaries using the Legislature’s map, to take place August 11. Qualifying for those races took place last week. But with yesterday’s decision, it appears the results from the May 19 primaries would be used, without the need for the special primaries.
This is the Congressional district map passed by the Alabama Legislature in a special session earlier this year. Districts 1, 2, 6 and 7 have had their lines changed – Photo from Alabama Governor’s Office
In the 2nd Congressional District, if the May 19 results are used, Congressman Shomari Figures and Republican nominee Hampton Harris would move on to the November election because both were unopposed.
If the special primaries are held, based on the qualifying last week, Figures is still unopposed and would move to the November general election. But on the Republican side, Harris would face several other candidates: Rhett Marques, Joshua McKee, James Richardson, Christian Horn and David Matthews.
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