Alabama Republican lawmakers said in a pleading Wednesday they will forgo drawing a new congressional map before 2030 to prevent the state from being put under federal supervision for its voting laws.
Earlier this month, a three-judge federal panel ruled that the state’s new redistricting map passed by Alabama Republican lawmakers in 2023 violated the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution by intentionally discriminating against Black voters.
The panel of judges — two of whom were appointed by President Donald Trump — ruled that the state should have two districts where Black voters would have a substantial opportunity to elect their preferred candidate.
Plaintiffs who sued the state over the map had asked the panel to consider putting Alabama back under a system of federal preclearance under the VRA, which it was under for decades until the Supreme Court weakened that part of the landmark voting law in 2013. The panel of judges is still considering the plaintiff’s request.
The lawmakers said that both “they and leadership for both chambers of the Alabama Legislature will voluntarily forgo any rights that they may have to attempt to draw an additional congressional district map as part of remedial proceedings in this case.”
“While Defendants maintain their arguments about the necessity and constitutionality of any remedial plan, Defendants do not plan to submit any further remedial plan … thus maintaining the status quo pending any appeal,” the lawmakers added.
In a status hearing Wednesday, the state and plaintiffs indicated that they were in discussion to potentially resolve the outstanding issues in the case, namely what map will be in place through 2030 and whether the state should be placed back under preclearance, according to the Alabama Reflector.
The panel gave parties a June 9 deadline to provide a joint status update on where the case stands and the possibility of resolving the unsettled issues.
For now, both parties agreed that the state’s current redistricting map, which was drawn by a court-appointed special master for the 2024 elections, will remain in effect. It has two districts — the 2nd and 7th Congressional Districts — where Black voters have the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.
The 2024 elections marked the first time in history that Alabama elected two Black U.S. representatives simultaneously.