For the 2022 midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to use congressional districts that violated the law and diluted the voting power of Black citizens.
A 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court in February 2022 let Alabama use these illegal districts during the election while the court heard the state’s appeal on the case known as Allen v. Milligan . In that case, voters had sued Alabama, arguing that its new congressional district map violated the Voting Rights Act by unfairly reducing Black voting power. Only one of seven congressional districts on Alabama’s new map had a majority Black population, despite Black residents making up a quarter of the state’s population.
The lower federal courts had agreed with the voters who sued and declared Alabama’s map illegal, ordering the state to draw a new one.
Then the Supreme Court intervened.
By June 2023, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled against Alabama . It upheld the requirements of the Voting Rights Act under these circumstances and allowed the lower court case to move forward.