On June 8, 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Alabama’s congressional redistricting plan adopted in November 2021 and used in the state’s 2022 elections violated the Voting Rights Act and must be redrawn to include a second majority-Black district.
In November 2021, a group of Alabama voters and organizations sued Secretary of State John Merrill (R) and the House and Senate redistricting chairmen, Rep. Chris Pringle (R) and Sen. Jim McClendon (R). Plaintiffs alleged the congressional map unfairly distributed Black voters. The plaintiffs asked the lower court to invalidate the enacted congressional map and order a new map with instructions to include a second majority-Black district.
In January 2022, the Northern District of Alabama granted an injunction preventing the state from using this plan for the 2022 U.S. House elections. In February 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the district court and allowed the state to use the maps to conduct its elections. That year, Alabama voters elected six Republicans and one Democrat to the U.S. House.
