Judges block Alabama districts that would dilute Black vote
A protester holds a sign in front of the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Ala., on Thursday, May 7, 2026.
Kim Chandler | access point
A panel of federal judges on Monday blocked Alabama from using congressional district maps that would dilute the Black vote in the 2026 midterm elections.
decision The decision in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Ala., which found that the maps “intentionally discriminated against them on the basis of race,” sets the stage for the Supreme Court to determine whether the maps, first proposed in 2023, can be used by Alabama this year.
The three-judge panel issued its decision in response to the Supreme Court telling it to reconsider the question of whether the maps can be used in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision, known as Louisiana v. Callais, which found that Louisiana’s drawing of its own congressional map was a racial gerrymander.
The board stated that it had previously ruled that Alabama’s district map “violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and knowingly discriminates against Black voters on the basis of race, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
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