Alabama’s high-stakes Supreme Court fight over racial gerrymandering, explained Merrill v. Milligan could eliminate one of the few remaining nationwide safeguards against rigged legislative maps.

By Nate Raymond (Reuters) -A federal court ruled on Thursday that Alabama's Republican-led legislature intentionally discriminated against Black voters when it approved a new electoral map in 2023 ...

Milligan, upheld a trial court ruling striking down the map. Then Alabama tried again — with a map that, like the 2021 version, still had only one district with a Black majority.

Alabama Republicans were ordered by a federal court to redraw their congressional maps to ensure that there were two majority-Black districts. They didn’t. Instead, this week, they’re going ...

Instead, lawmakers passed another map that only marginally increased Black voters’ share in a second district. Once again, the same three-judge panel reviewed Alabama’s map.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, argued that the new map kept communities of interest intact, unifying the state’s so-called Black Belt, named for its fertile black soil.

Alabama’s state Senate voted 24-6 on party lines in July to recommend a new map, with the state’s House voting 75-28 in favor of the map, though it only included one Black majority district ...

The plaintiffs who are challenging Alabama’s congressional map under the Voting Rights Act want a federal three-judge panel to block the legislature-approved map from being used in 2024. And ...

UPDATE (July 18, 2023, 3:50 p.m.): On Tuesday, a Senate committee in Alabama passed a different congressional map from the one discussed below, but it has the s… ...

Redrawn Alabama electoral map intentionally discriminatory, court rules By Nate Raymond May 8, 20255:46 PM PDTUpdated May 8, 2025 ...