Supreme Court clears way for Alabama to eliminate majority-Black district

The U.S. Supreme Court has paved the way for Alabama to adopt a new congressional map, which could leave the state with one majority-Black district. The ruling comes a little more than a week before Alabama’s primary elections on May 19. The latest decision, known as Allen v. Caster, lifts the court’s block on Alabama’s previous congressional map alongside any changes to the current one until 2030. The court previously ruled in 2023 that the state’s 2021 map was racially discriminatory under the Voting Rights Act and ordered Alabama to add a second Black-majority district. The proposed map would eliminate one of the two majority-Black districts in Alabama, which is currently held by Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat.