The Supreme Court cleared the way for Alabama to conduct this year's congressional elections under a map favoured by Republicans, setting aside a lower-court ruling that had found the districts were 'tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.' The order means the state's 2026 midterms will be fought on lines its Republican-controlled legislature drew rather than a remedial map.
Under the reinstated plan, Alabama is expected to send six Republican-leaning members and one Democratic-leaning member to the House, compared with the five safe Republican seats and two more competitive districts that the contested remedy would have produced. The practical effect is to imperil the seat held by Representative Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat representing the state's 2nd Congressional District.
The court's unsigned order leaned on its reluctance to disturb election rules close to a vote, reasoning that lower federal courts should not 'alter the election rules on the eve of an election.' It said a three-judge district court had 'interposed itself' into Alabama's preparations to run its imminent elections under maps the state's representatives had chosen.
The case is the latest turn in years of litigation over Alabama's districts, a fight that had previously produced a Supreme Court decision requiring the state to draw a second district where Black voters could elect a candidate of their choice. The new order allows the state to proceed under different lines while the underlying legal questions continue to be argued.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by the court's two other liberal members, dissented sharply, writing that the majority 'debases the democratic process' and 'corrodes the rule of law by rewarding Alabama's gamesmanship and outright defiance of court orders.' The dissent framed the decision as a reward for a state that had resisted earlier judicial findings.
The ruling carries implications beyond Alabama, arriving as control of the House is expected to be closely contested and as several states fight over the racial and partisan composition of their maps. For Alabama's voters, it settles the lines for the coming election even as the deeper constitutional dispute remains unresolved.