Federal Court Orders Alabama to Use Court-Drawn Map with Two Majority-Black Districts
WASHINGTON – On Thursday, a three-judge federal panel delivered a decisive victory for voting rights in Alabama, permanently barring Alabama from using its discriminatory 2023 map and ordering the state to continue using the court-drawn congressional map with two majority-Black districts for the remainder of the decade and permanently barring Alabama from using its discriminatory 2023 map.
This ruling followed an earlier finding that the Alabama Legislature enacted its 2023 congressional map in violation of both Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment.
The unanimous ruling by the panel—which included two Trump-appointed judges—represents a major victory for the plaintiffs in this case, who are represented by Elias Law Group.
"This ruling provides meaningful, lasting relief for the Voting Rights Act injury Alabama inflicted upon its Black voters,” said Abha Khanna, Partner at Elias Law Group and lead counsel to the Caster plaintiffs throughout this multi-year litigation. “This decisive victory ensures that Black Alabamians will continue to have an opportunity to elect their preferred candidates in two congressional districts for the remainder of the decade—and puts an end to the Alabama Legislature’s strategy of defiance and intentional discrimination.”
This litigation, originally brought in November 2021, resulted in the use of a Voting Rights Act-compliant, court-drawn map during the 2024 election, which elected two Black members to Alabama’s congressional delegation for the first time in the state’s history.
To read the ruling, click here.
For more information on the case, click here.
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