On June 3, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Alabama to use a congressional map that eliminates one of the state's two districts where Black voters made up a majority or near-majority.
Black residents make up roughly 27 percent of Alabama's population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, and the state has seven congressional districts.
In its 2023 ruling in Allen v. Milligan, the Supreme Court upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and ordered Alabama to draw a second majority-Black district.
Supporters of the Voting Rights Act framework argue that race-conscious districting is necessary to prevent vote dilution in areas with polarized voting patterns; critics argue that mandating race-based district lines conflicts with the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
Congressional maps are redrawn after each decennial census, and changes to the underlying legal standard would require either a Supreme Court ruling or an act of Congress amending the Voting Rights Act.