Federal court blocks new Republican-friendly voting map in Alabama | Alabama

A panel of three federal judges ruled Tuesday that Alabama cannot use a new Republican-friendly map in this year’s midterm elections because it was ruled to intentionally discriminate against Black voters.

The order blocks Alabama from using the congressional map lawmakers adopted in 2023, but it never took effect because the same court found the map was drawn with intent to discriminate. Alabama was eventually ordered to adopt a map that included two majority-black districts that both elected Democrats. After the U.S. supreme court struck down a major provision of the Voting Rights Act in April, Alabama took the extraordinary step of moving its upcoming congressional primary and sought to use its 2023 congressional map this year.

The state is expected to appeal to the US Supreme Court.

But Tuesday’s ruling is significant because the justices said the high court’s landmark ruling on the Voting Rights Act did not allow Alabama to use the map.

“We cannot see our way forward in requiring Alabamians to vote in the 2026 election under a district plan that is tainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” the court wrote in its opinion.

More details to come…