Alabama will seek to put legislative redistricting order on hold

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Alabama plans to appeal a federal judge's order to swiftly draw new state Senate districts for next year's legislative elections, an attorney and court filings indicated Thursday.

The state will seek to stay the court's directive to get a new map in place this fall, Deputy Attorney General James Davis told U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco during a brief status conference. A related court filing indicated the state plans to appeal.

Manasco last week ruled Alabama violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the influence of Black voters around Montgomery, the state capital, and blocked the state from using the current map in the 2026 elections. She said a new map must be put in place that creates another district in Montgomery where Black voters “comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.” The ruling said the court will redraw the districts if the state does not do so in time for the 2026 elections.

Manasco said Thursday that the state has time to draw a new map, but cautioned that “time is not unlimited.”

State lawyers wrote in court filings that Secretary of State Wes Allen believes that any new map must be in place by Nov. 17 to prepare for the May 2026 primaries.

The order came in a 2021 lawsuit that argued the Senate district lines diluted the voting strength of Black citizens in Huntsville and Montgomery. Manasco did not find a Voting Rights Act violation in Huntsville. Plaintiffs have not decided if they will appeal the Huntsville section of the ruling.

The NAACP Alabama State Conference, Greater Birmingham Ministries and a group of Black voters were plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

The legislative case mirrors a long-running legal fight over the state’s congressional districts which led to a new district being created ahead of last year’s election.