Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is asking a federal court to swiftly lift injunctions blocking the state from using its 2023 congressional map drawn by the Alabama Legislature.
Marshall filed an emergency motion Tuesday with the Northern District of Alabama, the original court that issued the injunctions. He requested a quick ruling in the redistricting case, asking for a decision by Wednesday, just one day later. Alabama’s primaries are still scheduled for May 19.
“Alabama deserves the same opportunity as every other state to conduct its elections in an orderly manner using a map drawn by its own legislature,” Marshall said in a statement.
Tuesday’s motion is the latest in a series of steps the attorney general’s office has taken since the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to the Voting Rights Act last week. The high court’s ruling struck down a majority-minority district in Louisiana, claiming it was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
Marshall’s recent efforts are aimed at finding a legal pathway for the state to use the 2023 map that courts previously found racially discriminatory in light of the Supreme Court’s decision.
The current congressional map, drawn by a special master, created the new 2nd District, where Black voters constitute 48.7% of the voting population. Should the court allow the 2023 map to be used, it would alter the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 7th Congressional districts, with the biggest changes to the 1st and 2nd.
Marshall argues that the Supreme Court’s decision means that the claims that led to the injunctions stopping Alabama from using the 2023 map “are no longer viable.”
“We are asking the court to lift those injunctions so that Alabama can conduct its congressional elections using the map its legislature lawfully enacted,” the attorney general said.
Previously, Marshall filed an emergency motion with the Supreme Court to expedite Alabama’s appeal to lift the injunctions. He also filed a separate motion with an appellate court to lift a block barring the state from using its 2021 state Senate map. Two Montgomery-area state Senate districts would be at play should the court lift that injunction.
During the Alabama Legislature’s special session, lawmakers passed two bills out of committee on Tuesday that would vacate the results of the May 19 primaries and set up special elections in the impacted congressional and state Senate districts if the court lifts the injunctions.
This story has been updated to better describe the 2024 congressional map.