Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed an emergency motion Monday with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to vacate or stay a district court injunction that currently prevents the state from using its 2021 Senate redistricting plan.
The state is requesting a ruling by May 8, a tight deadline intended to provide clarity before the primary elections scheduled for May 19.
The state’s motion leans heavily on the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 29 decision in Louisiana v. Callais. According to Alabama officials, that ruling “updated” the long-standing Gingles framework used to evaluate Voting Rights Act (VRA) violations.
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The Attorney General argues the district court’s previous order—which mandated a remedial map with an additional majority-Black district in the Montgomery area—is now out of step with the law. The motion specifically points to three areas where they claim the previous injunction fails under the new Callais standard:
- Race-Neutral Mapmaking: The state contends that plaintiffs can no longer use race as a primary criterion when proposing “illustrative” maps to prove a VRA violation.
- Partisanship vs. Race: The filing argues that plaintiffs must now “disentangle” political affiliation from race, proving that voting patterns are driven by racial bias rather than simply party loyalty.
- Focus on Present Intent: The motion asserts that courts should focus on present-day intentional discrimination rather than historical “societal effects” or “past discrimination.”
The legal maneuver comes just as Governor Kay Ivey called the Alabama Legislature into a special session this week. Lawmakers are expected to discuss potential changes to the primary election schedule or district boundaries should the court grant the state’s request.
“Time is of the essence,” Attorney General Marshall said in a statement. “We immediately filed a motion with the Circuit Court… because Alabamians deserve to vote using their own maps in our upcoming primary.”
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Marshall further argued that the legal framework for redistricting must evolve. “The South has changed, and the courts have acknowledged as much. We cannot be held indefinitely to a framework rooted in 1965.”
If the Eleventh Circuit vacates the injunction, the state would likely revert to the 2021 plan originally passed by the Legislature. However, if the stay is denied, the court-ordered remedial map—which creates “Black-opportunity districts” in Montgomery-area Senate Districts 25 and 26—will remain in effect for the 2026 and 2030 cycles.
Plaintiffs in the case, including the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, have previously argued that the 2021 maps unconstitutionally diluted the voting power of Black residents. The appeals court has suggested a schedule that would see a response from the plaintiffs by midday Wednesday.
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