** This challenge was heard alongside, but (outside of Supreme Court proceedings) not generally consolidated with, Milligan v. Merrill and Singleton v. Merrill **

A federal court challenge to Alabama’s congressional districts, alleging that the map violates the Voting Rights Act. 

On Jan. 24, 2022, the trial court granted a preliminary injunction, finding the plaintiffs likely to prevail on their VRA claim (and reserving ruling on the constitutional claim).  The court also postponed the 2022 qualification deadline, to give the legislature time to draw a remedial map.  On Feb. 7, 2022, the Supreme Court stayed the injunction and granted certiorari before judgment.  On June 8, 2023, the Supreme Court affirmed the trial court — and in the process, preserved precedent on the appropriate interpretation of the Voting Rights Act.

On remand, the state drew a new congressional plan on July 21, 2023; the trial court issued a preliminary injunction rejecting that plan on Sept. 5, 2023, and directed a special master to draw a remedial map.  On Oct. 5, 2023, the court ordered the implementation of one of the remedial maps recommended by the special master, for the 2024 election only.

On May 8, 2025, after a bench trial, the court permanently enjoined the 2023 plan, finding that it violated the Voting Rights Act (and, in companion cases, that it also represented intentional racial discrimination).  The state has appealed, but subject to the resolution of that appeal, the parties have agreed that the special master’s temporary 2023 plan remedies the VRA violation and will be in place until lines are redrawn after the next Census.