Attorney General Steve Marshall on Monday filed an emergency motion at the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals demanding federal judges vacate, or stay, court-imposed injunctions blocking Alabama from using its lawfully enacted 2021 State Senate map.
It comes hours before the Alabama Legislature will convene for a special session to address redistricting after the U.S. Supreme Court’s long-awaited decision in Louisiana v. Callais last week.
“Time is of the essence,” Marshall said.
“We immediately filed a motion with the Circuit Court, urging a decision by May 8, because Alabamians deserve to vote using their own maps in our upcoming primary. The South has changed, and the courts have acknowledged as much.”
“We cannot be held indefinitely to a framework rooted in 1965. With the Callais decision now in place, we are confident our race-neutral districts can serve as the foundation for all future redistricting,” Marshall added.
Last fall, U.S. District Judge Anna M. Manasco ruled that Alabama’s 2021 State Senate map violates the Voting Rights Act in the Montgomery area – but plaintiffs in the case sought a much broader redraw.
The court-imposed map that yielded targets State Sen. Will Barfoot’s (R-Pike Road) Montgomery-area State Senate District 25, a seat President Trump carried 64-36 in 2024, and transforms it into District 26, which Kamala Harris would have won by double digits.
But Callais changed the math. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling last Wednesday upended the Section 2 framework the order was built on. Marshall’s motion argues it can’t survive a single test the high court laid down.
Marshall wants a ruling by Thursday, May 8 – eleven days before Alabama’s May 19 primary. The case is Alabama State Conference of the NAACP v. Secretary of State. Plaintiffs would respond by noon on Wednesday, May 6. Any reply is due the next morning.
On Thursday, Marshall and Secretary of State Wes Allen filed emergency motions in three congressional cases – Allen v. Singleton, Allen v. Milligan, and Allen v. Caster – asking the justices to lift the injunctions blocking Alabama’s 2023 congressional map.
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A special session called last week by Governor Kay Ivey will gavel in today at 4 p.m. and is slated to go through Friday.
Lawmakers are expected to authorize a special primary for U.S. House and State Senate districts whose lines change by court order in a contingency play if Marshall prevails at the Eleventh Circuit and at the Supreme Court.
In a joint statement Friday, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) and Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) said Alabama has “a responsibility to give our state a fighting chance” to send seven Republicans to Congress.
The current congressional map, drawn by a court-appointed special master after the Supreme Court’s 2023 Allen v. Milligan ruling, now sends two Democrats to Washington – but that could change if the state successfully executes its legal and legislative strategy.
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
