BREAKING: SCOTUS overturns Alabama congressional map in surprise ruling

Voting rights advocates score huge court win

In a big win for voting rights activists, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday passed up an opportunity to further dismantle the scope of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

In a surprising 5-4 ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined with the court’s 3 liberals in upholding a lower court ruling that found Alabama’s congressional map to be discriminatory to Black voters.

The four other conservative Justices dissented.

It was a stunning move from Roberts, who had become known for being the deciding vote in cases that weakened the VRA. The most notable was decided a decade ago this month: Shelby County v. Holder, an Alabama case that did away with the preclearance provision of the landmark law.

African-Americans make up roughly a quarter of Alabama’s population, but plaintiffs in Allen v. Milligan took issue with the fact that Black voters make up a majority in just one of the state’s seven congressional districts. Alabama officials defended the maps by arguing that race should no longer be considered a factor when crafting voting laws.

Chief Justice Roberts was not sold on Alabama’s defense:

“Under the Court’s precedents, a district is not equally open when minority voters face—unlike their majority peers—bloc voting along racial lines, arising against the backdrop of substantial racial discrimination within the State, that renders a minority vote unequal to a vote by a nonminority voter.”

Alabama is not the only state facing court challenges to its voting maps. There are unresolved lawsuits targeting maps in Louisiana and Georgia, where plaintiffs are making similar arguments of discriminatory voting maps. And the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving South Carolina’s congressional map this fall.

Furthermore, Republicans in North Carolina are expected to soon redraw their congressional map after a conservative state court ruling that essentially greenlit partisan gerrymandering. And New York’s high court will soon hear a case involving its congressional map, which was drawn by an outside party.

Court battles and redistricting could very well decide control of the U.S. House next year, when Republicans will defend their five-seat majority.