US Supreme Court rules in favour of Alabama Black voters

Evan Milligan, a plaintiff in a case challenging Alabama's redistricting map, speaks with the press following oral arguments in October 2022 outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, the United States [Patrick Semansky/AP Photo]

The conservative-dominated United States Supreme Court, in a surprise ruling, has sided with Black voters who alleged a Republican-drawn districting map in the state of Alabama was discriminatory.

In a 5-4 ruling, the court said that the congressional map — which had only one majority Black congressional district out of seven, in a state where more than one in four residents is Black — likely violated the landmark civil rights-era Voting Rights Act.