{"id":121,"date":"2026-06-01T22:13:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121"},"modified":"2026-06-01T22:13:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:13:46","slug":"supreme-court-urged-to-uphold-lower-court-decision-striking-alabama-congressional-map-as-racially-discriminatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The plaintiffs challenging an Alabama congressional map urged the justices on Monday afternoon to leave in place a ruling by a panel of federal judges that bars Alabama from using the map on the ground that it is racially discriminatory. One set of plaintiffs that the lower court \u201cmade findings on a full record that remains the definitive account of Alabama\u2019s racial geography, racialized politics, and racially discriminatory policymaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Court rejects broad interpretation of compassionate release statute<\/a><\/p>\n

The filing came five days after\u00a0Alabama\u00a0asked the Supreme Court to put that ruling, issued on May 26, on hold and allow it to use the map in the 2026 elections. A. Barrett Bowdre, Alabama\u2019s solicitor general, told the justices last week that if the state cannot use its map, \u201cvoters will be forced to vote under a court-drawn racially gerrymandered map that does not meet Alabama\u2019s legitimate districting goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dispute over Alabama\u2019s map began five years ago but gained new momentum since the Supreme Court\u2019s April 29 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais<\/em>, in which the court \u2013 by a vote of 6-3 \u2013 struck down a map that created a second majority-Black district in the state, but which a group of voters who described themselves as \u201cnon-African American\u201d argued was the product of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. More broadly, the court\u2019s decision also made it harder for plaintiffs to prevail on a claim that a map violates a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.<\/p>\n

While the court considered the Louisiana case, it had put off acting on petitions for\u00a0review filed by Alabama, seeking review of a federal court\u2019s ruling that a congressional map that the state had adopted in 2023 violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars racial discrimination in voting. (The state had adopted the 2023 map after a federal court ruled that an earlier map, adopted in 2021, likely violated Section 2. The Supreme Court upheld that decision in 2023.) Specifically, that court concluded\u00a0that the map was \u201can intentional effort to dilute Black Alabamians\u2019 voting strength and evade the unambiguous requirements of court orders standing in the way.\u201d A court-appointed special master ultimately created a new map, which the lower court ordered the state to use in future elections.<\/p>\n

On May 11, one week before Alabama\u2019s primary election was scheduled to take place, the justices \u00a0back to the lower court for it to reconsider its ruling in light of Callais<\/em>. Just three days before that, the Alabama Legislature had passed a law allowing \u201ca special primary election for affected Congressional districts\u201d if a federal court permits the state to restore the 2023 map.<\/p>\n

Justice Sonia Sotomayor\u00a0\u00a0from the court\u2019s order, in an opinion joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. In her view, there was \u201cno reason\u201d for the court to send the case back to the lower court because that court had also concluded that \u201cAlabama violated the Fourteenth Amendment by intentionally diluting the votes of Black voters in Alabama. That constitutional finding of intentional discrimination is independent of,\u201d she wrote, \u201cand unaffected by, any of the legal issues discussed in\u00a0Callais<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the case returned to the lower courts, a panel of federal judges again prohibited the state from using the map, finding that it \u201cintentionally discriminated based on race in violation of the Constitution\u201d and therefore could not stand even after the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in\u00a0Callais<\/em>. Instead, the lower court ruled, Alabama should use the map created by the special master.<\/p>\n

Alabama then returned to the Supreme Court on May 27, again asking the justices to intervene. \u201cCallais<\/em>,\u201d the state contended, \u201cvindicates Alabama\u2019s position on the lawfulness of the 2023 Plan, yet the district court decided in one week that\u00a0Callais<\/em>\u00a0changed nothing.\u201d Alabama asked the Supreme Court to temporarily pause the lower court\u2019s ruling while it considered the state\u2019s request \u2013 an order known as an administrative stay \u2013 and to act by 10 a.m. on Monday, June 1. Instead, Justice Clarence Thomas, who has responsibility for emergency appeals from the 11th Circuit, which includes Alabama, directed the challengers to respond by 4 p.m. on June 1.<\/p>\n

Read more Justices send case of death-row inmate back to lower courts, grant new First Step Act case<\/a><\/p>\n

The Trump administration supporting Alabama. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the district court\u2019s order barring the state from using the 2023 map came too late. Sauer reasoned that \u201cstate legislatures are democratically elected bodies that are competent to make the policy judgments inherent in late election changes and are accountable to the voters for any ill effects. Federal district courts,\u201d by contrast, \u201cdo not have the same license to interfere with election rules at the eleventh hour, particularly on such dubious merits theories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, Sauer contended, Alabama is ultimately likely to prevail on the merits \u2013 a key criterion in determining whether to grant temporary relief \u2013 because the lower court wrongly \u201ctreated Alabama\u2019s failure to draw a second black opportunity district as proof of intentional racial discrimination, notwithstanding the obvious alternative explanations for Alabama\u2019s actions: helping Republicans and protecting the Gulf Coast community of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their briefs on Monday afternoon, the challengers insisted that it is too late for the court to intervene now. \u201cReassigning voters for a special primary election on August 11, 2026, is administratively impossible at this point,\u201d argued one group of challengers, , a Democratic state senator. A second group of challengers, known as the Caster challengers, made up of voters from three different congressional districts, that \u201cmere hours<\/em> remain until Alabama\u2019s statewide voter registration records must be cemented in place for the 2026 elections\u201d \u2013 a task complicated, the Singleton challengers noted, by the fact that offices in Alabama are closed on Monday, June 1, to observe the birthday of Jefferson Davis.<\/p>\n

But in any event, the Caster challengers told the justices, the Supreme Court\u2019s \u201cdecision in Callais<\/em> did nothing to change the facts of this case.\u201d Unlike in Callais<\/em>, they wrote, Alabama is not alleging that partisanship played a role in drawing the 2023 map. Instead, they said, Alabama \u201cadamantly insisted\u201d that it drew its map to \u201cpreserve the predominantly White Gulf Coast community,\u201d making a second majority-Black district \u201cmathematically impossible.\u201d But in fact, they continued, Alabama\u2019s map for its state board of education elections \u201csplits the Gulf Coast in the very same way that Alabama claims is \u2018non-negotiable.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A third group of challengers, , which includes a Birmingham non-profit and the Alabama Conference of the NAACP, stressed that the lower court\u2019s order barring the state from using the 2023 map \u201crests on an independent finding that Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black voters in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.\u201d By contrast, the Milligan challengers argued, Callais<\/em> addressed racial gerrymandering \u201cbut said nothing about the analytically distinct claim of intentional race discrimination here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alabama will have the opportunity to file a reply to the challengers\u2019 briefs. Once that reply has been submitted, the justices could act on the state\u2019s request at any time.<\/p>\n

Read more The most important cases yet to be decided<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The plaintiffs challenging an Alabama congressional map urged the justices on Monday afternoon to leave in place a ruling by a panel of federal judges that bars Alabama from using the map on the ground that it is racially discriminatory. One set of plaintiffs that the lower court \u201cmade findings on a full record that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-court-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory - American Service Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory - American Service Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The plaintiffs challenging an Alabama congressional map urged the justices on Monday afternoon to leave in place a ruling by a panel of federal judges that bars Alabama from using the map on the ground that it is racially discriminatory. One set of plaintiffs that the lower court \u201cmade findings on a full record that […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Service Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-01T22:13:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb\"},\"headline\":\"Supreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T22:13:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121\"},\"wordCount\":1195,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/f7f4197f3786b7205d4f5ba85eba8d52.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"COURT NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121\",\"name\":\"Supreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory - American Service Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/f7f4197f3786b7205d4f5ba85eba8d52.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T22:13:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/f7f4197f3786b7205d4f5ba85eba8d52.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/f7f4197f3786b7205d4f5ba85eba8d52.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":627},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?p=121#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Supreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Service Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanservicereview.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Supreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory - American Service Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Supreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory - American Service Review","og_description":"The plaintiffs challenging an Alabama congressional map urged the justices on Monday afternoon to leave in place a ruling by a panel of federal judges that bars Alabama from using the map on the ground that it is racially discriminatory. One set of plaintiffs that the lower court \u201cmade findings on a full record that […]","og_url":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121","og_site_name":"American Service Review","article_published_time":"2026-06-01T22:13:46+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb"},"headline":"Supreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory","datePublished":"2026-06-01T22:13:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121"},"wordCount":1195,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/f7f4197f3786b7205d4f5ba85eba8d52.jpg","articleSection":["COURT NEWS"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121","url":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121","name":"Supreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory - American Service Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/f7f4197f3786b7205d4f5ba85eba8d52.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-01T22:13:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/f7f4197f3786b7205d4f5ba85eba8d52.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/f7f4197f3786b7205d4f5ba85eba8d52.jpg","width":1200,"height":627},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=121#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Supreme Court urged to uphold lower court decision striking Alabama congressional map as racially discriminatory"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/","name":"American Service Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/220bfdac1627513926924476de32dedb","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/americanservicereview.com"],"url":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}