United States District Judge Anna Manasco denied a request on Monday by the State of Alabama to allow the use of a State Senate redistricting map drawn by the legislature in 2021.
The U.S. Supreme Court (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. However, the ruling didn't address two State Senate districts caught up in similar litigation.
Manasco ordered a special master in October to redraw Alabama's State Senate map for the 2026 election. Manasco selected the map dubbed "Remedial Plan 3," a map submitted by an 18-year-old University of Alabama undergraduate student.
Due to the new court-ordered map, State Sen. Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road) is running for the District 26 Senate seat rather than the District 25 seat that he currently holds. Barfoot has said his decision was forced by a federal court order that racially gerrymandered legislative districts to unfairly tilt the scales and ensure the election of liberal Democrat legislators. State Sen. Kirk Hatcher (D-Montgomery) announced in January his candidacy for State Senate District 25, rather than his current district, District 26. According to an analysis by the court-ordered special master, the new State Senate map makes State Senate District 25 a blue district in which 15 of 17 past races were won by Democrats. However, District 26, held by Hatcher, is now a district where the Democratic candidate has won only 9 of 17 past races.
A motion to dissolve the federal court's injunction against using the State Senate map passed by the Legislature in 2021 was recently filed by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.
However, Manasco denied the motion for lack of jurisdiction on Monday. Therefore, Alabama will continue to operate under the court-ordered map for the 2026 election unless the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals intervenes.
"Under these precedents, the Court has no authority to vacate or stay its injunction," Manasco said in a Monday ruling. "The Secretary has appealed the permanent injunction that he now asks this Court to stay, and his appeal is pending in the Eleventh Circuit. As things now stand, only the Eleventh Circuit can address the merits of the Secretary's arguments for vacatur or stay, and that court has indicated that it intends to do so—on an expedited basis."
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