Republicans celebrated another high court ruling in their favor after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to revisit its congressional map just three years after the bench forced a race-conscious redraw.
After the court ruled Louisiana’s map improperly weighted racial factors, Alabama lawmakers moved quickly to advance a redistricting plan aimed at triggering a fresh legal review. That effort paid off late Monday when the Supreme Court overturned a 2023 order from “Allen v. Milligan” that created a second Black-population-conscious district, which flipped Democratic in 2024, and returned the case to a federal court in Birmingham.
“Our elections should be decided by Alabamians at the ballot box — not by judges in courtrooms. I appreciate SCOTUS taking action on this issue and look forward to Alabama electing its congressional representation using a map drawn by those closest to the people,” Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, told Fox News Digital.
Ledbetter called the ruling a “massive victory; not just for Alabama but for conservatives around the country.”
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The new order sends the case to a federal court in Birmingham, where the bench now includes six Trump-appointed district judges and one Obama appointee, and gives Montgomery’s legislature leeway to use the GOP-drawn “Livingston Map” from 2023 that prompted the initial litigation.
Ledbetter said his goal was to pass the 2023 “Livingston Map,” named for Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, and give Gov. Kay Ivey the opportunity to approve it and force a broader constitutional test of race-based redistricting in light of the Supreme Court’s latest ruling in “Callais.”
Alabama currently has a 5-2 Republican majority in Congress, while prior to the Milligan case it long had a 6-1 map with a minority-favored district covering Birmingham and the state’s historic Black Belt.
Before the ruling, Friday’s legislative session devolved into chaos after Republicans approved sending the “Livingston” resolution to Ivey.
Lawmakers had to clear the House floor after raucous protests erupted inside, a Montgomery source recounted to Fox News Digital. One agitator was reportedly detained.
Later Monday, Gov. Kay Ivey announced special primary elections for several affected districts, mostly in the central and southern regions of the state.
“As I said at the close of our special session lat week, Alabama now stands to quickly act. I will continue to say Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best,” Ivey said in a statement.
Ivey’s move will provide for an August 11 primary in the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 7th districts.
The 1st district, represented by Republican Rep. Barry Moore, runs along the Florida border through the “Redneck Riviera” and Flora-Bama beach region and into Joe Scarborough’s hometown of Dothan in the Wiregrass region.
The 2nd district, created through the now-overturned Milligan ruling, runs from Mobile through Montgomery and is represented by Democrat Shomari Figures. The state’s other Democrat, Rep. Terri Sewell, is also affected, as her Birmingham-centric district is the 7th.
The other Republican affected is Rep. Gary Palmer, who represents Birmingham suburbs like Hoover and Leeds and areas approaching Wetumpka, outside Montgomery.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall — who filed the emergency requests to the Supreme Court that helped spur the quick action — quipped Monday that his “job… is done” to put Ledbetter and Senate President Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, in a position to draw a potentially 7-0 congressional map.
House Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, lambasted the legislature’s resolution by appearing to compare it to or at least invoking the 1965 beatings of Black demonstrators by state police in Selma, Alabama during the Civil Rights era.
“Less than a week ago, while tornado sirens blasted and flooding forced the Alabama legislative chambers to be evacuated, an unlawful and unconstitutional bill was rammed through by White legislators,” Friday’s court filing on Singleton’s behalf continued.
The court nonetheless sided with the legislative majority.
Marshall said later Monday that Alabama has had to redraw its decennial congressional maps based on race for a long time.
“We have fought for years against courts forcing Alabama to sort its citizens by race, and we were right to fight. On April 29, the United States Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in Louisiana vs. Calais. The court confirmed what we have been arguing for years. States cannot be forced to gerrymander by race.”
“Let’s be clear about what happened here. Alabama originally drew its maps around geography and communities: the Gulf Coast, the Black Belt, the Wiregrass, and a federal court punished us for it. Today the Supreme Court vindicated the state’s long-held position.”
While the Livingston map preferred by some Republicans provides a likely 6-1 scenario for the GOP, Marshall signaled that Monday’s court decision may allow lawmakers to go farther.
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“My job in this office was to put the legislature in the best possible legal position to draw a congressional map that favors Republicans 7 to 0. My office has never taken the charge of our state motto lightly,” he said of “Audemus Jura Nostra Defendere.”
That motto could become a clarion call for other states to try their own hand at eliminating racial factors from congressional cartography ahead of a heated national primary election.
“We dare to defend our rights,” Marshall said in translating the motto to English. “Stay tuned.”
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