Federal judges last week blocked Alabama’s redistricting plans. The state was in the process of implementing a congressional map that would benefit Republicans while also diluting Black voting power in the state.

The three-judge panel issued a preliminary injunction to stop the state from going forward with redistricting, saying that the new map “intentionally discriminated based on race” because it only included one majority-Black congressional district out of its seven districts. Black people make up about 27% of the state’s population. 

Instead, the judges ordered the state to continue to use a map that includes two majority-Black districts. This congressional map has been the subject of a drawn-out legal battle in the state. It was put in place by the same three-judge panel in 2023 after they ruled a map drawn by state lawmakers to be racially discriminatory. The court issued an injunction that the state would have to use this map until 2030 — a mandate Alabama officials challenged multiple times, including in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, which maintained that the original map violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

However, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais prompted the state to once again challenge the court-ordered map. Under this new case, the court agreed to lift the injunction keeping the court-ordered map in place, but left it up to the lower courts to determine the legality of the state-drawn map.

In light of this decision, which came just a week ahead of the May 19 primary elections, the state legislators passed a bill allowing the state to nullify the results of the congressional races in the districts that would be redrawn under the new map — namely, District 1, 2, 6 and 7 — and instead, hold special primary elections in August. 

Last week’s ruling putting the court-ordered map back in place has prompted a flurry of confusion as to how these special elections would move forward. Several candidates who had already filed and qualified to move their campaigns to a redrawn district are now having to pivot again to campaigning in their original districts. For now, the August 11 special election will go forward, though under which map still remains unclear.

Alabama officials also filed an emergency application to the Supreme Court last week, asking for the court to quickly hear their appeal asking them to overturn the lower court’s latest ruling. In the application, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall asked the court to make a decision no later than June 1, so that the state has time to prepare for the Aug. 11 special election.

In a statement, Marshall upheld the legitimacy of the state-drawn maps.

“The extent to which there is confusion about the maps which Alabama uses for congressional districts seems to be with the three-judge panel, not the voters. The fact that our State’s conservative electorate has conservative representation is democracy, not an attack on it,” Marshall said. 

However, the state did win a different lower court redistricting case last week. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the state by lifting a district court injunction that blocked state Senate redistricting in two districts in the Montgomery area. Originally, the district court ruled that the state’s plan to redraw the two state Senate districts — Districts 25 and 26 in Montgomery and Elmore Counties — also unlawfully diluted Black voting power.

Now, the state can move forward with redrawing these two districts. Gov. Kay Ivey has added the state Senate races in both of these districts to the Aug. 11 special election slate, causing some affected candidates to voice their concerns about the sudden change.

“I am appalled by the AL GOP’s reckless disregard for standard elections processes,” Tabitha Isner, the Democratic candidate in District 26, wrote on X. “The past month has revealed that their tough talk about election integrity was never genuine, but was always conditioned on whether it was politically advantageous.”

Candidates in these districts will have to refile and requalify their campaigns in their new districts by June 2.

Alabama top stories in brief

PSC candidate sues over restructuring bill

• Sheila McNeil, the Democratic nominee for Public Service Commission Place 2, is suing the state over a law passed earlier this year that restructures the commission.
• Earlier this year, state legislatures passed a bill that expanded PSC membership, giving Gov. Kay Ivey the ability to appoint four new members to the commission before July 15.
• McNeil’s suit claims that restructuring violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment because it altered election rules after absentee voting had already started. McNeil says she had already started campaigning by the time the bill was introduced.
• The suit also alleges that expanding membership dilutes minority voting power under Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act since the bill bases representation on congressional districts. Two of the state’s seven congressional districts have Black majority voting population. 

Federal court upholds UA student publication suspension

• A federal court last week denied an injunction blocking the suspension of two student publications at the University of Alabama.
• The two publications, Alice — a magazine focused on women — and Nineteen Fifty-Six — a publication focused on Black student life at UA, were suspended by the university last fall, saying that the publications were not in compliance with federal anti-diversity, equity and inclusion guidelines. 
• Students involved with the publications filed suit against the university in March, saying the suspensions were unlawful censorship.
• In last week’s ruling, Judge Edmund G. LaCour Jr. said that UA’s decision to suspend the magazines was not “pretext for silencing a particular viewpoint.”

Montgomery Civil Rights-era hotel on national list of endangered places

• The Ben Moore Hotel in Montgomery, where Civil Rights Movement leaders — including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — frequently stayed, has been included on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places.
• The historic hotel was built in 1951 to serve Black clientele under Jim Crow segregation. The building also housed several other businesses, including the Majestic Café, the Malden Brothers Barber Shop and the Afro Club. 
• During the Civil Rights Movement, movement leaders would also stay at the hotel while in Montgomery. Black performers also played at the hotel, including Billie Holiday, B.B. King and Little Richard.
• However, the building has remained vacant for decades, and has fallen into disrepair.
• The National Trust for Historic Preservation granted all historic places included on the list a one-time $25,000 grant to help fund restorations.

State medical board bars certain peptide prescriptions

• The Alabama Board of Medical Examiners has prohibited physicians and other medical professionals in the state from prescribing, administering or dispensing research-grade peptides to patients.
• Peptide use has become a wellness trend online, where advocates claim that peptide usage can help accomplish a number of health goals, including building muscle and slowing aging.
• Some peptide drugs, such as GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, have received approval from the Food and Drug Administration. However, many peptides that are being promoted online, including BPC-157, CJC-1295 and TB-500, have not and are considered research-grade.
• The board said they wanted to bar these research-grade peptides because of the lack of regulation and oversight in their production, saying neither patients nor prescribers are able to accurately gauge the risks associated with taking these drugs or verify the contents of peptide vials. 

Like our work? Then support it!

Want to get early access to columns, unique newsletters and help keep The Sunrise News active? Then support us on Ko-Fi!

Support our work!