The fate of Alabama’s congressional lines and the future of a new seat held by a Black Democrat returns to federal court this morning.

Rep. Shomari Figures is just a month into his term as the state’s newest member of Congress, and a decision by three federal judges in Birmingham could determine his political fate and who will represent the south Alabama district for the next decade.

Figures in Nov. 2024 won a race to become Alabama’s second Democrat and the second Black member of the state’s legislative district following a surprise Supreme Court ruling that forced the Republican-controlled Legislature to draw a new map.

But the state of Alabama and parties for two federal lawsuits are back in court because the earlier order from Birmingham-based judges to redraw the map was only an injunction that was used for the 2024 race. The order could now be either rescinded or made permanent.

“This is a clear-cut case, and it should be an easy decision for the court,” said Marina Jenkins, the executive director of the National Redistricting Foundation.

The foundation is one of the legal representatives in the joined cases, along with several others including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Jenkins is also executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, an affiliate organization which is chaired by Eric Holder, a former U.S. attorney general in the Barack Obama administration.

Lawyers representing the state of Alabama and State Secretary of State Wes Allen have argued that the earlier map drawn by the legislature was fair.

The judicial panel hearing the trial today includes the same judges that ordered the current district map. Jenkins notes that Alabama has never enacted a complaint district map with judicial intervention.

“This case isn’t just about a Congressional map,” Jenkins said during a pre-trial press briefing. “It’s about representation and living up to the fundamental ideal that should guide our democracy, that every individual has the right to exercise self-determination at the ballot box.”

The Supreme Court ruled in the Allen v. Milligan case that Alabama’s 2021 congressional voting maps diluted the power of Black voters, in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Republican-controlled legislature then pitched a new map that still featured just one majority Black district. That map was also tossed out. Finally, a new map was drawn and approved under federal court oversight.

Figures then bested Republican Caroline Dobson to represent the district that includes portions of Mobile and most of the Black Belt.

In court filings the state restates previous arguments that the Legislature’s district maps were based on traditional methods with allowed partisan goals rather than plans for racial exclusion.

“Defendants will demonstrate with expert and lay testimony that the political processes in Alabama are open to all, and that “what appears to be bloc voting on account of race is instead the result of political or personal affiliation of different racial groups with different candidates,” the latest court filing states.

Before the ruling, Alabama, which is about 27 percent Black, currently had just one Black member in Congress – Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham.

Today’s trial could last up to three weeks.