2026年5月11日 / 美国东部时间下午6:19 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
华盛顿讯 — 最高法院周一为阿拉巴马州在2026年中期选举前采用新的国会众议院选区地图扫清了道路。
在涉及阿拉巴马州2023年划定的众议院选区的三起上诉案件的分歧裁决中，高等法院搁置了下级法院的裁决——这些下级法院曾阻止该州使用共和党划定的仅包含一个非裔美国人占多数选区的地图。根据上月发布的削弱《选举权法案》的里程碑式裁决，最高法院将案件发回下级法院进一步审理。
高等法院的裁决似乎以6票对3票通过，索尼娅·索托马约尔、埃琳娜·卡根和凯坦吉·布朗·杰克逊法官持异议。
索托马约尔与她的两位自由派同僚一同在异议意见中写道，最高法院驳回地区法院裁决的做法“不妥当，且只会在阿拉巴马州民众开始为下周举行的选举投票时造成混乱”。
该州2023年的地图在7个众议院选区中仅设有一个非裔美国人占多数的选区，这是阿拉巴马州议员在今年早些时候最高法院作出意外裁决后通过的——该裁决称2021年通过的重新划分选区计划可能违反了《选举权法案》第2条。
阿拉巴马州2024年选举使用的现行地图由三名法官组成的地区法院小组选定，包含两个非裔美国人占多数的选区。该州目前的国会代表团由5名共和党人和2名民主党人组成。
上月削弱《选举权法案》第2条的里程碑式裁决出台后，阿拉巴马州迅速向最高法院提起上诉。紧随这起涉及路易斯安那州国会选区的6票对3票裁决之后，南部一些州的共和党人正加紧重新划分国会选区版图，调整民主党占据的选区布局。
在阿拉巴马州，初选定于5月19日举行，共和党籍州长凯·艾维签署了一项法案，授权为国会选区举行特别选举——如果该州获准恢复使用2023年的地图，现行选区边界将发生变化。
围绕阿拉巴马州国会选区的法律斗争已持续了大半个十年，在不同诉讼阶段多次提交最高法院审理。
2021年该州由共和党控制的州议会通过新的众议院选区界线后，最高法院同意下级法院的裁决，即阿拉巴马州的国会地图通过稀释非裔选民的选票，可能违反了第2条。下级法院曾表示，该州应该设立两个选区，让非裔选民有机会选举自己支持的候选人。
该裁决出台后，州议员于2023年7月通过了新的众议院地图，与2021年的方案一样，仅包含一个非裔美国人占多数的选区。州官员表示，国会选区的划分是为了尽量减少拆分郡县，包括在所谓的“黑带地区”——这片以肥沃土壤得名的乡村地区——并遵循传统的重新划分选区原则。
但2023年的地图再次引发争议，三名法官组成的地区法院小组再次阻止这些国会选区在2024年选举中使用。最高法院拒绝允许阿拉巴马州使用这些众议院边界，2024年的国会选举是在地区法院划定的补救性地图框架下举行的。
阿拉巴马州官员去年就下级法院的裁决提起上诉，但最高法院在审理涉及路易斯安那州地图的《选举权法案》争议期间，尚未对此作出裁决。
此外，阿拉巴马州共和党人曾请求最高法院给予紧急救济，允许该州在本次选举周期恢复使用2023年的地图。
“原告希望阿拉巴马州在一张充其量是错误划定、最坏情况下违宪的地图下举行选举。没有任何规定要求得出这样的结果，”阿拉巴马州副检察长巴雷特·鲍德雷在申请中写道。“美国人——阿拉巴马州民众也不例外，如今理应享有一个不受种族划分影响的共和国，州官员也理应获得实现这一目标的机会。”
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/alabama-is-the-latest-state-set-to-redraw-its-congressional-map/
Supreme Court clears path for Alabama to redraw congressional map
May 11, 2026 / 6:19 PM EDT / CBS News
Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for Alabama to adopt a new House map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
In a divided decision from a trio of appeals involving Alabama’s House districts drawn in 2023, the high court set aside lower court rulings that had blocked the state from using the GOP-drawn map, which contained one majority-Black district. The Supreme Court sent the cases back to the lower court for further proceedings in light of its landmark ruling last month that weakened the Voting Rights Act.
The ruling from the high court appears to be 6 to 3, with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in dissent.
Sotomayor, joined by her two fellow liberal justices, wrote in a dissenting opinion that the move by the Supreme Court to toss out the district court’s decisions is “inappropriate and will cause only confusion as Alabamians begin to vote in the elections scheduled for next week.”
The state’s 2023 map contained just one majority-Black district out of seven House districts and was adopted by Alabama lawmakers after the Supreme Court, in an unexpected decision earlier that year, ruled that a redistricting plan enacted in 2021 likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Alabama’s current map, used in the 2024 elections, was selected by a three-judge district court panel and includes two majority-Black districts. The state’s congressional delegation is currently composed of five Republicans and two Democrats.
Alabama had asked the Supreme Court to move quickly on the appeals following its landmark ruling last month that undermined Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. On the heels of that 6-3 decision, which involved Louisiana’s congressional map, Republicans in some Southern states are scrambling to redraw their congressional maps and reconfigure districts held by Democrats.
In Alabama, where the primary is set for May 19, GOP Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law a measure that authorizes a special election for congressional districts whose current boundaries would change if the state were given the green light to revert back to its 2023 map.
The court fight over Alabama’s congressional map has spanned more than half the decade and has been before the Supreme Court numerous times across various stages of litigation.
After the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature adopted new House district lines in 2021, the high court agreed with a lower court that Alabama’s congressional map likely violated Section 2 by diluting the votes of Black residents. The lower court had said the state should have two House districts where Black voters have the opportunity to elect their preferred candidates.
Following that decision, state lawmakers enacted in July 2023 a new House map, which, like the 2021 plan, included a single majority-Black district. State officials said the congressional districts were drawn to minimize county splits, including in the so-called Black Belt, a rural region named for its fertile soil, and to adhere to traditional redistricting principles.
But that 2023 map drew another challenge and again, a three-judge district court panel blocked those congressional districts from being used in the 2024 elections. The Supreme Court declined to let Alabama use those House boundaries, and 2024 congressional elections were held under a remedial map drawn by the district court.
Alabama officials went on to appeal the district court rulings last year, but the Supreme Court had not yet acted on them while it was considering the Voting Rights Act dispute involving Louisiana’s map.
Separately, Alabama Republicans asked the Supreme Court to grant it emergency relief that would allow the state to return to its 2023 map for this election cycle.
“Plaintiffs would have Alabama hold elections under a map that was erroneously ordered at best and unconstitutional at worst. Nothing requires that result,” Alabama Solicitor General Barrett Bowdre wrote in its request. “Americans, no less in Alabama, deserve a republic free of racial sorting now, and state officials deserve an opportunity to give it to them.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/alabama-is-the-latest-state-set-to-redraw-its-congressional-map/
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