Alabama’s defiant new voting map rejected by federal court — after Republicans ignored the Supreme Court’s directive to add a second majority-Black House district

Evan Milligan, plaintiff in an Alabama case that could have far-reaching effects on minority voting power across the U.S., speaks outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4, 2022. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File

In a rebuke of the Alabama legislature, a panel of three federal judges rejected on Sept. 5, 2023, the state’s proposed voting districts that failed to create a second district where Black voters could elect a political candidate of their choice.

In rejecting the legislature’s proposed voting districts for the second time since 2022, the federal judges wrote they were “deeply troubled” that Alabama lawmakers submitted a new plan that did not adhere to previous court rulings, including one issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 8, 2023.