U.S. Supreme Court Allows Alabama Racially Discriminatory Congressional Map

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6‑3 decision permitting Alabama to use the 2023 congressional map that lower courts had found intentionally discriminatory under the Voting Rights Act. The Court held that the lower‑court map was not “more convenient” than the state‑drawn map and declined to intervene close to the 2026 election cycle.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, wrote a dissent warning that the ruling sets a precedent for chaotic elections and undermines Black voters’ ability to elect candidates of their choice. Critics, including NAACP attorney Deuel Ross and Alabama Democratic representatives, said the decision could disenfranchise roughly 600,000 Black‑majority voters and reverse recent protections from the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision. The ruling enables the Republican‑controlled Alabama legislature to proceed with a map that reduces Black representation from two majority‑Black districts to one, potentially affecting the composition of the state’s congressional delegation in the upcoming midterms.