A three-judge court in Alabama’s Northern District has determined that the legislature’s 2023 congressional map violates the Voting Rights Act and cannot be used in future elections.

The court also determined that the map violates the Fourteenth Amendment, which requires states to provide equal protection under the law to all persons.

“Try as we might, we cannot understand the 2023 Plan as anything other than an intentional effort to dilute Black Alabamians’ voting strength and evade the unambiguous requirements of court orders standing in the way,” the decision reads.

The ruling was issued by two district judges appointed by President Trump — Judge Anna Marie Manasco and Judge Terry F. Moorer — and Circuit Judge Stanley, who was nominated to district judge by President Reagan and circuit judge by President Clinton.

“After we and the Supreme Court ruled that the 2021 Plan, with only one majority-Black district, likely had the unlawful discriminatory effect of diluting Black Alabamians’ votes, the Legislature deliberately enacted another Plan that it concedes lacks the second Black-opportunity district we said was required.”

The ruling establishes that the Alabama congressional map must include two districts where Black voters have the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice (like the map ordered by the court in October 2023) for the remainder of the decade.

“We do not diminish the substantial improvements Alabama has made in its official treatment of Black Alabamians in recent decades,” the judges wrote.

“Yet we cannot reconcile the State’s intentional decision to discriminate in drawing its congressional districts with its position that Alabama has finally closed out its repugnant history of official discrimination involving voting rights.”

The court-ordered map, used in the 2024 elections, resulted in Alabama electing two Black representatives to Congress for the first time in history — U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures, both Democrats.

“This win is a testament to the dedication and persistence of many generations of Black Alabamians who pursued political equality at great cost,” reads a joint comment from plaintiffs of the case included in a recent release from the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama.

“We stand on the shoulders of our predecessors. We know that all Alabamians will benefit from today’s victory just as we have benefited from the work of others.”

“We hope our win will benefit Black voters in the rest of the country as well. This is a triumph for voting rights, an independent judiciary, and offers us hope for the future of our democracy,” it continues.

The Supreme Court upheld the complaints’ findings that “elections in Alabama were racially polarized; that Black Alabamians enjoy virtually zero success in statewide elections; that political campaigns in Alabama had been characterized by overt or subtle racial appeals; and that Alabama’s extensive history of repugnant racial and voting-related discrimination is undeniable and well documented.”

Dr. Baodong Liu, a tenured professor of political science at the University of Utah, testified that he observed “supplemental evidence” of racially polarized voting, and ultimately that voting in Alabama is “highly, highly racially polarized.”

Liu testified that in more than twenty years of research, “this is arguably the highest level” of racially polarized voting that he has “ever seen.”

The case was originally brought in November 2021 on behalf of Evan Milligan, Khadidah Stone, Letetia Jackson, Shalela Dowdy, Greater Birmingham Ministries, and the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP who are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Alabama, Legal Defense Fund, and Wiggins, Childs, Pantazis, Fisher & Goldfarb.

“This ruling is not just a legal win — it’s an overdue acknowledgment of Alabama lawmakers’ persistent attempts to shut out Black voters from the electoral process” said Laurel Hattix, senior attorney at the ACLU of Alabama.

“For decades, Black Alabamians have organized and fought for not just their voting rights, but the voting rights of all Americans. Today, the courts have affirmed what Black voters have long known: fair representation is not optional — it’s a right.”

Efforts to reach representatives for Attorney General Steve Marshall and Gov. Kay Ivey were not immediately successful.