Supreme Court lets Alabama use GOP-favored House map for 2026
Why it matters: The ruling weakens protections for Black voting power and could spur late redistricting fights in other states.
The Supreme Court cleared the way for Alabama to use a congressional map for the 2026 elections that favors Republicans and removes one of two districts where voters had elected a Black Democrat to Congress. In an unsigned ruling issued late Tuesday, the court set aside a lower-court decision that had found the legislature's plan was intentionally race-based and violated equal protection. The move effectively reverses the court's 2023 order requiring Alabama to create a second district where Black voters could elect their preferred candidate. Election law experts warned the decision, coming after the court's late-April Voting Rights Act ruling, could trigger more last-minute map fights in Alabama and other states.