WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Alabama to move forward with a plan to implement a new congressional map — boosting Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections.
The new map is expected to give Republicans an extra seat in the state’s delegation — further adding to the GOP’s gains in a nationwide redistricting war.
The court’s six conservative justices granted Alabama’s emergency appeal of a lower court order that ruled the map drawn by the legislature in 2023 intentionally discriminated against black residents.
Alabama’s new map will give Republicans an advantage in one of the state’s two Democrat-controlled congressional districts.
The Alabama state capitol is seen during a special session of the Alabama Legislature, Monday, May 4, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. APJustice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Elena Kagan and Ketanji Jackson, wrote in her dissent that the ruling could unleash “a chaotic election, held under a never-before-used congressional map that intentionally discriminates against Black Alabamians.”
The Supreme Court in April ruled that Louisiana’s second black-majority congressional district, held by a Democrat, was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, setting in motion further redistricting efforts in the Deep South.
The Louisiana ruling established new guidelines for considering race, decreeing that majority-minority districts should be drawn only if the racial group is large and compact, politically cohesive and facing en-bloc hostility from voters from the state’s majority.
Tennessee is also eliminating a majority-black district centered on Memphis, though that district’s retiring Democrat, Rep. Steve Cohen, is white. A leading candidate to replace him is black Republican Charlotte Bergmann.
