Supreme Court clears Alabama map despite race discrimination findings

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated an Alabama congressional map favored by Republicans, overturning a three-judge panel that said the plan was tainted by intentional race-based discrimination. The ruling sets the stage for Alabama’s 2026 midterm elec

When the Supreme Court reinstated Alabama’s Republican-favored congressional map on Tuesday. it didn’t just change lines on a ballot. It reset expectations for the 2026 midterms—after months of court orders. last-minute adjustments. and a fight over whether race was being used to shape political power.

The high court cleared the way for Alabama to use the map favored by Republicans. overturning a three-judge district court panel that had found the plan is “tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.” The practical effect is stark: Alabama’s 2026 midterm elections will feature six Republican-leaning districts and one Democratic-leaning one. rather than a map that would have produced only five safe Republican seats.

Democrat Shomari Figures, who represents Alabama’s Second District, will likely lose his seat as a result of the ruling.

The Alabama map battle began in 2021, when the state implemented a new congressional map to account for population changes from the census. That plan included only one majority-black district out of seven, despite Alabama being more than one-quarter Black.

Voters sued immediately, arguing the map violated the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution by diluting minority votes. Lower court judges agreed. They ruled that Alabama needed to draw a map with two districts where Black voters had a realistic chance of electing their candidate of choice.

The Supreme Court intervened more than once, ordering Alabama to draw a compliant map. But Alabama refused to do so. Instead, the state kept litigating.

On Tuesday, that strategy paid off—after the Supreme Court’s own stance on the Voting Rights Act shifted.

In April. the court’s conservative supermajority all but gutted what remains of the Voting Rights Act. ruling that states cannot purposefully draw districts that are majority-minority. Alabama then asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the state’s old map. arguing that the April ruling meant it was permissible to use a plan with only one majority-Black district. In an unsigned. unexplained order in May. the high court effectively reversed course on its prior opinions and allowed Alabama to use the old map for the upcoming midterm elections.

That May decision sparked a scramble inside election administration timelines. By the time the Supreme Court issued its May order, absentee balloting had already begun—using the court-drawn map. With time running out. Republican Governor Kay Ivey cancelled elections and scheduled a special primary for August for the affected congressional races.

But the case didn’t end when the map came back. The Supreme Court had ordered the lower court panel to continue evaluating Alabama’s map in light of its recent Voting Rights Act decision. And only 15 days after that directive. the panel—composed of three Republican judges. two of them Trump appointees—unanimously concluded that the plan for a single Black district was “intentionally discriminatory. ” even under the Supreme Court’s new standards.

Alabama again turned back to the Supreme Court. This time. the state argued the map was partisan. not racially discriminatory—contending that the Republican legislature drew the map to elect more Republicans and that. under the court’s new interpretation of the Voting Rights Act. the GOP plan should be allowed to stand.

Tuesday’s ruling also drew sharp pushback from the court’s three liberals. They publicly dissented, criticizing the conservative majority for failing to follow its 2006 decision in Purcell v. Gonzalez, which held that courts should not change election rules too close to an election.

For Democrats, the stakes are immediate. Tuesday’s decision is part of a series of Supreme Court rulings that could reshape the 2026 midterm elections—making it much harder for Democrats to win.

Supreme Court Alabama congressional map Voting Rights Act Purcell v. Gonzalez Shomari Figures Kay Ivey 2026 midterm elections redistricting