Allen v. Milligan During the
2020 redistricting cycle, Alabama's congressional map faced legal challenges for alleged violations of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965. 27% of Alabama's population is African American, but only one of Alabama's seven districts was drawn with a Black majority. A federal panel initially blocked the 2022 map, finding that the state illegally discriminated against Black voters by not drawing a second majority-Black district. However, on February 7, 2022, the
Supreme Court of the United States granted a stay on the case that had been requested by the state of Alabama, allowing the map to remain in place for the
2022 elections, but signaled it would fully review the case at a later date. On June 8, 2023, the Supreme Court affirmed the previous finding that the map discriminated against Black Alabamians. In a 5–4 decision in
Allen v. Milligan, Justice
Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice
John Roberts joined the Supreme Court's liberal wing (Justices
Ketanji Brown Jackson,
Elena Kagan, and
Sonia Sotomayor) and ruled in favor of Milligan. The decision, considered an unexpected victory for voting rights activists in Alabama, upheld the federal panel's ruling that Alabama had illegally diluted the power of Black voters. The decision forced Alabama to reconfigure its congressional districts in advance of the 2024 elections, including drawing a second predominantly Black district. The
Alabama Legislature was required to convene a special legislative session in order to draw a new map.
John Wahl, chair of the
Alabama Republican Party, published a statement in reaction to the ruling, stating that the party would "work hard to win all seven congressional seats". A special conference committee consisting of six members from both wings of the Alabama Legislature passed a new map with additional changes on July 21. The new congressional map was signed into law by Governor
Kay Ivey the same day. In the legislature's map, the Black voting age population in
Alabama's 7th congressional district was reduced from 55.6% to 50.6%, while
Alabama's 2nd congressional district's Black voting age population was increased to 39.9%. The map enacted by the state was struck down on September 5, confirming speculation by Black lawmakers in the state that it failed to comply with the requirement for a second majority Black district. The panel of judges ruling on the maps wrote that they were "deeply troubled that the State enacted a map that the State readily admits does not provide the remedy we said federal law requires". The judges appointed a
special master, Richard Allen (no relation to
Wes Allen or
Allen v. Milligan), to take control of the mapmaking process following Alabama lawmakers' defiance. Three proposed maps from the special master were released on September 25. In all of the maps,
Coffee County, which was represented by and home to
Barry Moore, was moved to
Alabama's 1st congressional district, which set up a primary in which
Jerry Carl and Moore were both incumbents pitted against each other.
Finalization of special master map The state of Alabama, under
Attorney General of Alabama Steve Marshall, requested a stay on the federal panel's decision to not allow the legislature's new map. On September 26, 2023, the Supreme Court again denied Alabama's request, meaning that the special master's map was to be used in the 2024 elections. All three of the proposed remedial maps raised the Black voting-age population in the second congressional district in ranges from 48.5% to 50.1%. The Alabama Democratic Conference, the Black caucus of the
Alabama Democratic Party, also announced the same day that it planned to file an objection to the special master's maps, saying that they did not go far enough to create a majority-minority district. The conference offered its own redistricting map in the objection, but it was denied by the federal panel. Following another hearing on the case, the federal panel issued an opinion on October 5, 2023, ordering Alabama to implement the congressional map known as Remedial Plan 3, as drawn by the special master.
Secretary of State of Alabama Wes Allen said his office would implement the new map for the 2024 elections. In Remedial Plan 3, Alabama's 2nd congressional district has a Black voting-age population of 48.7%, and a Black-preferred candidate was found to have won in 16 of 17 simulated elections. ==Overview==