A federal court blocked Alabama from using its new congressional map in this year’s midterm elections, ruling that it intentionally discriminates against Black voters. The three-judge panel wrote in their ruling, “We cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.” More than one in four residents of Alabama are Black. Alabama’s attorney general vowed to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, which last month struck down Louisiana’s majority-Black congressional districts.

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, the state Senate wrapped up its session Tuesday without voting on a new congressional map that would have dismantled the state’s only majority-Black district. South Carolina’s lawmakers quietly defied pressure from President Trump and the GOP to join the ongoing redistricting battle ahead of the midterm elections.