Not so fast, Alabama Republicans.
A day after the U.S. Supreme Court seemingly paved the way for Alabama GOP lawmakers to revert back to old voting maps and toss out maps that provided minority voters with two opportunity districts, a lower federal court issued an order Tuesday afternoon making it clear that it planned to address the issue prior to the state’s elections next Tuesday.
That same three-judge court, the Northern District of Alabama, ruled that maps drawn by Alabama Republicans in 2021 were unconstitutional, tossed them out, and later, in 2023, issued an injunction barring the state from using redrawn maps that the Republican-led legislature submitted. Now, it wants Alabama to explain how it can possibly conduct elections with new maps in place and ensure that Alabama voters are using “lawful maps.”
“These congressional redistricting cases have returned to this Court from the Supreme Court, which expedited its proceedings, vacated the permanent injunction entered by this Court, and instructed us to reconsider our earlier rulings in light of Louisiana v. Callais,” the order entered Tuesday read. “Although the Supreme Court’s order is summary, it makes clear that the Supreme Court, (1) fully understands that Alabama’s 2026 primary elections are well underway, and (2) has directed us to reconsider our earlier rulings immediately so that appropriate relief, if any, will issue in time for Alabama’s 2026 election to occur according to a lawful map.”
The district court provided the parties until Friday to submit briefs on the issue and issued a deadline of Tuesday at noon for any reply briefs from the parties. Tuesday is also Election Day in Alabama, in which statewide primaries will be held.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gov. Kay Ivey issued new election dates for the primaries affected by the Supreme Court’s order. To demonstrate the turmoil caused by the late decision, there will be new elections for Congressional Districts 1, 2, 6 and 7, and for state Senate Districts 25 and 26. Those races will also appear on the ballot next Tuesday but the votes – should the appeals court fail to act – will not count, nor will thousands of ballots already cast by absentee voters. There also will be no runoff elections following the special elections.
Monday’s surprise ruling by the high court also led to an onslaught of criticism for the conservative justices, who just a week earlier seemed to indicate that their opinion in Callais that Alabama’s long and tortured redistricting ruling, Allen v. Milligan, would not be affected. Instead, the Supreme Court completely vacated the order in Allen, thus removing the injunction that had been put in place by the federal district court (and subsequently approved by the Supreme Court).
That vacating of the decision seemed to allow Alabama’s legislature, dominated by Republicans, to revert back to maps it drew in 2023 – the so-called Livingston maps – that ignored the Supreme Court’s order, issued in 2022, that required the state to have at least two opportunity districts, in which minority voters had an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choosing. The district court tossed the Livingston maps and appointed a special master to redraw the districts.
The new maps created a new Congressional District 2, which didn’t base the district lines on race so much as opportunity and communities of common interest. Those maps were implemented in 2024, and CD2 voters elected Democrat Shomari Figures to the seat.
