A three-judge federal panel ruled Tuesday that Alabama cannot use its Republican-drawn congressional map in this year’s elections, finding the plan intentionally discriminates against Black voters.

The panel, which included two Trump appointees and one Clinton appointee, wrote that it cannot “require Alabamians to cast their votes under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.”

Dev Wakeley, a worker policy advocate with Alabama Arise, a nonprofit focused on economic justice and democracy issues, said the ruling recognizes Alabama’s long history of targeting Black voters.

“The state of Alabama has been historically terrible to Black voters,” Wakeley said. “The intentional discrimination findings that the panel endorsed are clearly reflective of Alabama’s voting history and current practices. As such, we want to make sure that Black voters retain full and fair participation in our democracy.”

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall called the map “blandly unobjectionable” and vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The ruling keeps in place a court-ordered map that paved the way for the election of Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures.

Republicans argued that a recent Supreme Court decision narrowing the Voting Rights Act vindicated their map. But the panel ruled that decision does not erase findings of intentional discrimination under the Constitution.

Wakeley said the three-judge panel got it right, but he is not confident the Supreme Court will.

“Any system that tries to decouple politics from race in the American South is either hopelessly naive or is intentionally denying the historical record,” he said.

The litigation over Alabama’s congressional map dates back to 2023, when the U.S. Supreme Court first ruled the state’s original design likely violated the Voting Rights Act. Since then, Republicans have sought to redraw the lines to create political opportunity.

Source: Public News Service