Federal court finds Alabama's voting districts discriminated Black voters

A three-judge federal panel ruled Thursday that the Alabama Legislature "acted with discriminatory intent" when drawing the 2023 election maps, according to a 500-page ruling. 

Specifically, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division, rebuked the state for refusing to draw a second majority-Black voting district, despite orders from multiple courts—including itself and the Supreme Court.

The challenge centers on the state legislature’s 2023 redistricting plan. About that plan, the justices wrote, "try as we might," they couldn’t understand it "as anything other than an intentional effort to dilute Black Alabamians’ voting strength."

Both the Supreme Court and the district court had rejected Plan 2021 for including only one majority-Black district. However, the judges argue that Plan 2023 repeated the same flaw, amounting to "intentional racial discrimination in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause."

In addition to violating the Constitution, the court also found that the plan breached Section Two of the Voting Rights Act.

In a sharp rebuke to the legislators, the court stated that it was "unthinkable" they had acted in good faith, adding that the presumption of good intent "cannot give the Legislature a free pass for its purposeful attempt to deny Black Alabamians an equal opportunity under the law to elect candidates of their choice."

The court also ruled that the state must continue using a map previously imposed by the court and used in the last election. Alabama still has the option to appeal.