Alabama Republicans plow forward after key Supreme Court win leads gov to call snap primaries
Republicans celebrated another high court ruling in their favor after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to revisit its congressional map just three years after the bench forced a race-conscious...
By Fox News · Fox News
Republicans celebrated another high court ruling in their favor after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to revisit its congressional map just three years after the bench forced a race-conscious redraw. After the court ruled Louisiana’s map improperly weighted racial factors, Alabama lawmakers moved quickly to advance a redistricting plan aimed at triggering a fresh legal review. That effort paid off late Monday when the Supreme Court overturned a 2023 order from "Allen v. Milligan" that created a second Black-population-conscious district, which flipped Democratic in 2024, and returned the case to a federal court in Birmingham. "Our elections should be decided by Alabamians at the ballot box — not by judges in courtrooms. I appreciate SCOTUS taking action on this issue and look forward to Alabama electing its congressional representation using a map drawn by those closest to the people," Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, told Fox News Digital. Ledbetter called the ruling a "massive victory; not just for Alabama but for conservatives around the country." BLOCKBUSTER SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING IGNITES REDISTRICTING WAR ACROSS SOUTHERN STATES The new order sends the case to a federal court in Birmingham, where the bench now includes six Trump-appointed district judges and one Obama appointee, and gives Montgomery’s legislature leeway to use the GOP-drawn "Livingston Map" from 2023 that prompted the initial litigation. Ledbetter said his goal was to pass the 2023 "Livingston Map," named for Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, and give Gov. Kay Ivey the opportunity to approve it and force a broader constitutional test of race-based redistricting in light of the Supreme Court’s latest ruling in "Callais." Alabama currently has a 5-2 Republican majority in Congress, while prior to the Milligan case it long had a 6-1 map with a minority-favored district covering Birmingham and the state’s historic Black Belt. Before the ruling, Friday’s…