A federal court on Tuesday blocked the State of Alabama, at least temporarily, from using a congressional map expected to give Republicans an edge in the 2026 midterm elections.

A three-judge panel issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the state from switching to a map that would effectively eliminate one majority-minority district.

“The ruling means Alabama would be required to conduct the June 16th party primary runoffs using the current federal court drawn map that maintains the 2nd Congressional District in south Alabama as a majority-minority district,” Tuscaloosa Thread reports.

“It is currently represented by Democrat Congressman Shomari Figures,” it added.

Tuscaloosa Thread explained further:

In this morning’s ruling the court wrote, “Ultimately, we cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.

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“And under the unusual circumstances of this case, we conclude that a limited order requiring the (Alabama) Secretary (of State Wes Allen) to continue using this Court’s race-blind map will not distrupt Alabama’s elections,” it continued.

During a court hearing last Friday, the judges had questioned if Alabama’s hurridly scheduled August 11th special election for four of the state’s congressional districts, including West Alabama’s 7th Distric,t represented by Democrat Congresswoman Terri Sewell can even be conducted without massice voter confusion.

Both the state and plantiff’s in the redistricting case had vowed to appeal any ruling against their side. That means the state will make an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court which last week had returned the case to the Birmingham based court.

The state could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I am pleased with the court’s decision, but this case is still not over. Although we expected the Court to reach this decision given the overwhelming evidence, we fully expect the State to immediately appeal the decision to the Supreme Court,” Figures said.

“This is a significant step in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go before this fight is settled,” he added.

More from the Associated Press:

The court order is the latest development in the twisting legal and political saga following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Black-majority district in Louisiana and weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. That ruling has led Republicans in several Southern states, including Alabama, to take steps to reshape voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.

The redistricting frenzy is part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to try to hold on to Republicans’ slim House majority in the November elections.

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The three-judge panel in 2023 ruled that a map drawn by Republican state lawmakers intentionally diluted the voting power of Black citizens. The court said the state, which is about 27% Black, should have two districts where Black voters are the majority or close to it. The court-selected map was used in 2024.

After the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Louisiana case, Alabama officials moved to implement the 2023 state-drawn map. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority agreed to lift the injunction that had blocked the map’s use and sent the case back to the three-judge panel for reconsideration in light of the Louisiana ruling.

In the meantime, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey set Aug. 11 special primaries using the new map.

 

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