A three-judge federal court will hear arguments Monday on new Alabama’s congressional map and whether it fixes a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act.

The three judges ruled last year that Alabama’s old map diluted Black votes in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a ruling upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus and District Judges Anna M. Manasco and Terry F. Moorer will start the hearing Monday morning at the Hugo L. Black U.S. Courthouse in Birmingham.

The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the new map in July.

The organizations and Black voters who sued to challenge the old map have asked the court to block the new map, which has one majority Black district out of seven for a state where one-fourth of residents are Black. They say it defied the court’s instruction that fixing the likely violation would require a second majority Black district or something “quite close to it.”

Lawyers for the state, led by Attorney General Steve Marshall, said the new map complies with the Voting Rights Act, which they say not does not require proportional representation for minorities. They say the new map is an improvement over the one it replaced, partly because the districts are more compact and what the state defined as communities of interest, including the Black Belt, Baldwin and Mobile counties, and the Wiregrass, are kept intact as much as possible.

The court has appointed a special master and cartographer to draw a new map if it rules for the plaintiffs and rejects the Legislature’s new map. Secretary of State Wes Allen has told the court the state needs a new map in place by Oct. 1 to prepare for next year’s elections.

Eric Holder, who was U.S. Attorney General during the Obama administration, issued a statement Monday morning asking the court to block the new map.

“Alabama’s latest congressional map is a continuation of the state’s sordid history of defying court orders intended to protect the rights of Black voters,” Holder said. “The state has been blatant in its defiance of the United States Supreme Court. State legislators have abused the process and drawn a map that prioritizes unfair national political objectives and denies Black Alabamians their lawfully protected rights. History teaches us that the judicial branch must be the protector of the rights too long denied to Black citizens in Alabama. The court must reject the proposed map in accordance with the holding and direction from the Supreme Court.”

This story will be updated.