The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Thursday issued a 2–1 decision staying a lower court ruling that had struck down Jefferson County’s 2021 redistricting plan as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
The stay temporarily halts U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala’s September 16 injunction, which had barred the county from using its 2021 map in future elections. Haikala found that the county map was unconstitutional because race was the predominant factor in the Jefferson County Commission’s drawing of districts. The ruling came in a 2023 lawsuit that says the plan overly packed Black voters, who make up 40 percent of the county population, into just two districts.
In their majority order, Circuit Judges Elizabeth L. Branch and Robert J. Luck granted the Jefferson County Commission’s request to pause that injunction, saying the district court’s order came too close to key election deadlines and risked “chaos and confusion” for candidates and voters.
“The post-briefing hearing is scheduled for October 20, 2025, which is only two weeks before the deadline for candidates to establish residency in the district they seek to represent,” Branch and Luck wrote. “No electoral map is currently in place and the district court has not provided a date by which a remedial redistricting plan will be approved.”
The panel cited the Supreme Court’s Purcell principle, which warns courts against altering election procedures too close to an election because of the potential for voter confusion and administrative issues. The judges said that the principle clearly applied here, noting that Jefferson County’s residency deadline was less than three weeks away.
According to the majority, that looming deadline meant “potential candidates do not even know which district they live in, nor do incumbents know if they now might be running against other incumbents.”
The majority also criticized plaintiffs for waiting too long to challenge the 2021 map. Although the plan was enacted in November 2021, the lawsuits were not filed until April 2023.
“The plaintiffs’ delay, on its own, is sufficient to warrant a stay,” the majority wrote.
Branch and Luck also emphasized that the district court’s schedule made compliance with upcoming election deadlines “nearly impossible.” Even if a remedial plan were approved before November 3, they wrote, candidates and election administrators would have “little time to react,” potentially forcing incumbents to “decide between moving or entirely reworking their political strategy.”
Judge Adalberto Jordan dissented and argued that the district court’s findings were sound and that the election was not imminent enough to justify a stay.
“Given that eight-month span [until the May 2026 primary], we are not yet on the eve of an election such that Purcell applies,” Jordan wrote. “As far as I can tell, no circuit court has applied Purcell to an election eight months away, and we should not be the first.”
Jordan said the district court acted within its discretion when it found that Jefferson County’s 2021 map was racially gerrymandered.
“The district court’s order is thorough and, viewed through the required lens of deferential review, does not indicate that there was an abuse of discretion,” he wrote.
For now, the Eleventh Circuit’s stay allows Jefferson County to continue operating under its 2021 district map while the appeal proceeds and keeps the county’s political lines unchanged.
