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Rep. Shomari Figures issued a statement after the Supreme Court lifted an injunction against Alabama’s preferred congressional map, which three Republican-appointed judges had found resulted from intentional racial discrimination. According to the congressman’s office, the ruling allows the state to proceed with lines that reduce Black voting opportunities ahead of the November midterms. NPR reported that the unsigned order cited a presumption of legislative good faith that the lower court had not followed, referencing an April decision in a Louisiana case that narrowed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Figures, who won Alabama’s second district under a court-ordered map in 2024, described the development as setting the stage for the state to revert to levels of Black political representation last seen in the 1950s and 1960s. In a separate statement distributed via his congressional website, the Democrat from Mobile said the Supreme Court’s conservative majority had enabled a map that dilutes Black votes in violation of the Constitution. The decision is projected to shift Alabama’s House delegation from a 5-2 Republican advantage to 6-1, according to Politico.
BBC reporting from Tuskegee highlighted how Figures secured more than $1 million in federal funds for a new civic center that will serve as a storm shelter while housing the police and fire departments in a city of fewer than 9,000 residents where one in three lives in poverty. The Alabama city, which is more than 80 percent Black, lacks a general hospital and a 24-hour emergency clinic, leaving its fire department to handle cases ranging from bleeding injuries to bullet wounds in an aging facility. Mayor Chris Lee told the outlet that continued representation in Congress remains vital for directing such resources to the community.
The American Civil Liberties Union stated that the reinstated 2023 map eliminates one of two districts where Black voters previously had an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, even though African Americans comprise roughly 27 percent of Alabama’s population per U.S. Census Bureau data. A three-judge federal court had ordered a different map with two such districts for the 2024 elections, which produced two Black Democrats in Alabama’s congressional delegation for the first time in state history, the Alabama Reflector reported. Civil rights groups indicated they would pursue further litigation despite the Supreme Court stay.
Figures’ district under the prior map stretched across the Black Belt region and included Montgomery, incorporating areas with deep ties to the civil rights movement such as the 1965 Voting Rights Act marches. Historical records document earlier violence in the area, including a 1874 incident in Eufaula where white mobs killed at least six Black men attempting to vote. Residents interviewed by BBC expressed fears that reduced representation could exacerbate existing disparities, including poverty rates four times higher among Black residents than white ones in parts of the region.
In a May statement on his congressional site, Figures noted that lower courts would likely continue to scrutinize the map for discrimination even after the Supreme Court action. The Alabama Attorney General’s office has maintained that the dispute centers on partisan differences rather than race, pointing to map-drawing practices in Democratic-led states. With the November elections approaching, Republican challenger Rhett Marques has received endorsements from national party figures, according to local reporting.
