A three-judge federal panel on Tuesday barred Alabama from using a Republican-backed congressional map for the 2026 elections, finding the plan was tainted by intentional race-based discrimination against Black voters. The panel included two judges appointed by President Donald Trump.
A three-judge federal court said Alabama could not proceed with a congressional map that state Republicans sought to revive for the 2026 midterm elections, concluding that the plan intentionally discriminated against Black voters and diluted their electoral influence.
In a unanimous ruling, Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus and U.S. District Judges Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer said the state’s proposed switch to the disputed map could not be used for the remaining stages of Alabama’s 2026 congressional election calendar. The judges directed state officials to continue administering the elections using a court-ordered map that has been in place for federal contests, including the 2024 cycle.
The panel said Alabama lawmakers knew that refusing to create an additional district in which Black voters could elect their preferred candidate would weaken Black political power, and that the Legislature enacted the plan anyway. The judges pointed to the way the map divides concentrations of Black voters—including in the state’s Black Belt—among districts with white majorities.
The decision followed a recent U.S. Supreme Court order in a separate redistricting dispute from Louisiana, which Alabama had cited in urging the judges to allow the state’s map to take effect. But the Alabama panel said the Supreme Court’s action did not change its conclusion that Alabama’s plan remained impermissible under federal law.
Alabama officials have argued that changing maps close to an election risks voter confusion and administrative disruption, while voting-rights plaintiffs have contended that the state has repeatedly resisted providing Black Alabamians fair opportunities for representation in Congress.
