{"id":70176,"date":"2026-06-02T21:22:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T01:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/?post_type=alerts&#038;p=70176"},"modified":"2026-06-03T12:16:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:16:03","slug":"supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate","status":"publish","type":"alerts","link":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court greenlights Alabama\u2019s racial gerrymander, signaling free rein for states to discriminate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The U.S. Supreme Court will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/28183713-25a1314-order\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/28183713-25a1314-order\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">allow<\/a> Alabama to use a congressional map found to have intentionally discriminated against Black voters, it said Tuesday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the court gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in Louisiana v. Callais, it found that intentional racial discrimination in voting remains unconstitutional. But the new ruling, to which all six conservative justices signed on, suggests that, in practice, almost no federal protections remain for non-white voters, even in extreme cases.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"sign-up\n\t\">\n\t<div class=\"sign-up__inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"sign-up__header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"sign-up__eyebrow text--h6\">\n\t\t\t\t\tSIGN UP TODAY\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"sign-up__title text--h1\">\n\t\t\t\t\tGet updates straight to your inbox \u2014 for free\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"sign-up__desc\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>Join 350,000 readers who rely on our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest in voting, elections and democracy.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"sign-up__form\">\n\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/js.hsforms.net\/forms\/embed\/v2.js\"><\/script><script>hbspt.forms.create({ region: \"na1\", portalId: \"48216804\", formId: \"edec34b6-42b8-45e1-81d7-ef15f8bdee00\" });<\/script>\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most immediate impact of the ruling is that Alabama will be free to use its gerrymandered map in its primary election, which has been rescheduled for August. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A federal court found in 2023 that lawmakers intentionally discriminated in drawing Alabama\u2019s congressional map, which diluted the voting strength of Black Alabamians. The Supreme Court agreed, and in 2024 the state was required to use a fairer map, with two Black-majority districts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs to intentional vote dilution, the District Court did not heed the presumption of legislative good faith because it interpreted the State\u2019s legal disagreement with the court\u2019s earlier remedial order as proof of discriminatory animus,\u201d the court&#8217;s conservative majority wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the April 29 Callais ruling \u2014 which all but ended the VRA\u2019s ability to block maps that reduce minority voting power \u2014 Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the decision had \u201cno bearing\u201d on the court\u2019s earlier finding on Alabama\u2019s map. He wrote that maps could still be found in violation of the VRA if it was proven that they were drawn with the explicit intent of discriminating against a state\u2019s minority voters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, shortly after Callais, Alabama lawmakers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/alabama-passes-11th-hour-congressional-gerrymander-despite-active-election\/\" target=\"_blank\">resuscitated<\/a> the state\u2019s previously blocked map. They did so while an active election was happening, hoping that courts would quickly step in and allow them to use it. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey scheduled a special election based on that map for August 11, also betting on courts\u2019 approval.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But last month, a three-judge panel found the map to still be a violation of the 14th Amendment and the court\u2019s new legal standard under Section 2 of the VRA. Alabama appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The request has been seen as the first major test of the high court\u2019s new approach to policing racial discrimination in voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Before the Court are two paths. Down one lies an orderly election, held under a tried-and-tested congressional map that protects Black Alabamians\u2019 right to vote and with which all voters, elections officials, and candidates alike are familiar,&#8221; the court&#8217;s dissenting justices wrote. &#8220;Down the other lies a chaotic election, held under a never-before-used congressional map that intentionally discriminates against Black Alabamians, that Alabama adopted in unashamed defiance of a prior court order directly affirmed by this Court, and that<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>will require officials to change the voter registrations of hundreds of thousands of voters in just days at best, a task that Alabama previously represented would take&nbsp;months.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Citing the election law doctrine known as the Purcell principle, the justices said the lower court erred by changing election rules close to an upcoming election, risking confusion for voters and election administrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;To switch to the 2023 Redistricting Plan now, however, county elections officials will have to reassign hundreds of thousands of voters across the State to new congressional districts,&#8221; the dissent added. &#8220;Three of Alabama\u2019s counties will be particularly hard hit because they are split across two congressional districts.&nbsp;These counties have about 600,000 registered voters between them (roughly 15% of the State\u2019s total number of registered voters).&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Critics say the Court&#8217;s conservative majority has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/Br0ybMKmtA8\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/Br0ybMKmtA8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">applied<\/a> that principle selectively to reach its preferred outcomes. In December, the Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/as-expected-supreme-court-officially-greenlights-texas-gerrymandered-congressional-map\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/as-expected-supreme-court-officially-greenlights-texas-gerrymandered-congressional-map\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">invoked<\/a> similar reasoning to stay a lower-court order blocking Texas\u2019 2025 congressional map, which the lower district court had found likely to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The map is expected to give Republicans several additional seats in Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Supreme Court will allow Alabama to use a congressional map found to have intentionally discriminated against Black voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":68110,"template":"","meta":{"content-type":"","header_eyebrow_text":"","header_subtitle":"","display_share_icons":true,"custom_share_text":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"manual_last_updated":"","sortable_date":"2026-06-02 21:22:29","auto_update_manual_last_updated":false,"related_links":[],"_display_featured_image":true,"footnotes":""},"article-type":[47],"state":[19],"topic":[43,54],"coauthors":[385],"class_list":["post-70176","alerts","type-alerts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article-type-democracy-alert","state-alabama","topic-litigation","topic-redistricting"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2176481651-1024x683.jpg","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Supreme Court greenlights Alabama\u2019s racial gerrymander, signaling free rein for states to discriminate - Democracy Docket<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The U.S. Supreme Court will allow Alabama to use a congressional map found to have intentionally discriminated against Black voters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court greenlights Alabama\u2019s racial gerrymander, signaling free rein for states to discriminate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The new ruling, to which all six conservative justices signed on, suggests that, in practice, almost no federal protections remain for non-white voters, even in extreme cases.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democracy Docket\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/democracydocket\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-03T16:16:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2176481651-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Supreme Court greenlights Alabama\u2019s racial gerrymander, signaling free rein for states to discriminate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The new ruling, to which all six conservative justices signed on, suggests that, in practice, almost no federal protections remain for non-white voters, even in extreme cases.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DemocracyDocket\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"Brentin Mock\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/news-alerts\\\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/news-alerts\\\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\\\/\",\"name\":\"Supreme Court greenlights Alabama\u2019s racial gerrymander, signaling free rein for states to discriminate - Democracy Docket\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/news-alerts\\\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/news-alerts\\\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/GettyImages-2176481651-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-03T01:22:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-03T16:16:03+00:00\",\"description\":\"The U.S. Supreme Court will allow Alabama to use a congressional map found to have intentionally discriminated against Black voters.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/news-alerts\\\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/news-alerts\\\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/news-alerts\\\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/GettyImages-2176481651-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/GettyImages-2176481651-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 7: The outside the U.S. Supreme Court on October 7, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kent Nishimura\\\/Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/news-alerts\\\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/news-alerts\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Supreme Court greenlights Alabama\u2019s racial gerrymander, signaling free rein for states to discriminate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Democracy Docket\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.democracydocket.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Supreme Court greenlights Alabama\u2019s racial gerrymander, signaling free rein for states to discriminate - Democracy Docket","description":"The U.S. Supreme Court will allow Alabama to use a congressional map found to have intentionally discriminated against Black voters.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Supreme Court greenlights Alabama\u2019s racial gerrymander, signaling free rein for states to discriminate","og_description":"The new ruling, to which all six conservative justices signed on, suggests that, in practice, almost no federal protections remain for non-white voters, even in extreme cases.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/","og_site_name":"Democracy Docket","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/democracydocket\/","article_modified_time":"2026-06-03T16:16:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2176481651-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Supreme Court greenlights Alabama\u2019s racial gerrymander, signaling free rein for states to discriminate","twitter_description":"The new ruling, to which all six conservative justices signed on, suggests that, in practice, almost no federal protections remain for non-white voters, even in extreme cases.","twitter_site":"@DemocracyDocket","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes","Written by":"Brentin Mock"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/","url":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/","name":"Supreme Court greenlights Alabama\u2019s racial gerrymander, signaling free rein for states to discriminate - Democracy Docket","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2176481651-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-03T01:22:29+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-03T16:16:03+00:00","description":"The U.S. Supreme Court will allow Alabama to use a congressional map found to have intentionally discriminated against Black voters.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2176481651-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2176481651-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 7: The outside the U.S. Supreme Court on October 7, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kent Nishimura\/Getty Images)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/supreme-court-greenlights-alabamas-racial-gerrymander-signaling-free-rein-for-states-to-discriminate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Supreme Court greenlights Alabama\u2019s racial gerrymander, signaling free rein for states to discriminate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/","name":"Democracy Docket","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/alerts\/70176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/alerts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/alerts"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/alerts\/70176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70242,"href":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/alerts\/70176\/revisions\/70242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-type?post=70176"},{"taxonomy":"state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/state?post=70176"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=70176"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=70176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}