A recent Alabama redistricting ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court "is an incredibly unfortunate decision," according to U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures (D-Mobile).
SCOTUS struck down a 2023 federal court-ordered Alabama congressional map on Monday. Alabama will now use a likely 6-1 Republican map passed in a special session in 2023.
The ruling paves the way for Republicans in Alabama to likely pick up at least one congressional seat in the 2026 midterms. Republicans currently have a narrow majority in Congress, and redistricting battles are happening in multiple states across the nation. A special master hired by a three-judge panel in Birmingham redrew the map for the 2024 congressional elections after Democrats and liberal groups were successful in their initial redistricting legal challenge. The court-ordered map resulted in Democrats picking up one seat in Alabama via Figures in Congressional District 2.
Figures said in a statement on Monday, "This is an incredibly unfortunate decision by the Supreme Court that not only continues their trend of breaking from the norms and precedents set by the Court, but also sets the stage for Alabama to go back to the 1950s and 60s in terms of Black political representation in the state."
"The conservative justices on the Supreme Court just literally substituted themselves in to be the defense lawyers for the State of Alabama. The Court just gave the state the benefit of an argument the Supreme Court acknowledged just a week ago that the State did not even present in defending its maps," Figures said. "This Supreme Court did not dismiss the case, so the litigation will certainly continue. My hope is that this is a temporary setback and that three Republican-appointed judges will again find what they found the first time: that the State of Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black voters in drawing its congressional district lines."
Figures continued, "I ran for this seat to be a voice for all of Alabama, and I'm not backing down from that mission now. The fight must and will go on. Beyond the courts, we know what has to be done. We will organize, we will register, and we will turnout people in record numbers at the polls."
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