Federal court blocks Alabama's new congressional map, orders lines redrawn

A federal court on Tuesday blocked Alabama's newly drawn congressional map after lawmakers refused to make a new map with a second majority-black district. 

The Alabama Legislature quickly redrew the map over the summer after the Supreme Court in June upheld a lower court's finding that the map, which only had one majority-black district out of seven even though 27% of Alabama residents are black, likely violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act.

The new map passed in July maintained a single majority-black district district and in another district, it increased the percentage of black voters from about 40% to almost 40%, according to The Associated Press.

"We are not aware of any other case in which a state legislature — faced with a federal court order declaring that its electoral plan unlawfully dilutes minority votes and requiring a plan that provides an additional opportunity district — responded with a plan that the state concedes does not provide that district," the three-judge panel wrote in its decision Tuesday. 

"The law requires the creation of an additional district that affords Black Alabamians, like everyone else, a fair and reasonable opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The 2023 Plan plainly fails to do so," the judges also wrote.

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