Supreme Court restores Alabama map, likely flipping 1 House seat
Why it matters: The order leaves Alabama with six Republican-leaning districts and one Democratic-leaning seat for the 2026 midterms.
The Supreme Court cleared Alabama to use a Republican-backed congressional map for the 2026 elections, reversing a lower court that found the plan intentionally discriminated against Black voters. The unsigned 6-3 order is likely to hand Republicans one more U.S. House seat by putting Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures' district at risk. Alabama will now use a map with one majority-Black district instead of two districts where Black voters had a realistic chance to elect their preferred candidate. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented. The dispute stems from Alabama's post-census redistricting and follows the court's recent Louisiana v. Callais ruling, which narrowed limits on race in mapmaking.