Shock Supreme Court ruling could yield more Black and Latino districts—and flip the House

Alabama will have to redraw its congressional map to create a second district where Black voters can elect their preferred candidate ahead of the 2024 elections following an unexpected Supreme Court ruling on Thursday. The decision could also require similar changes to maps in Louisiana and Georgia—and potentially other states as well—which could in turn affect the balance of power in the closely divided House of Representatives.

Legal experts had widely expected the court's right-wing majority to once again further eviscerate the Voting Rights Act, which formed the basis of the challenge to Alabama's map, by undermining a key provision that prohibits racial discrimination in redistricting. But in a stunning 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court's three liberals to keep the VRA's existing protections in place.

Last year, a panel of three federal judges unanimously ruled that Alabama Republicans had violated the VRA by drawing a congressional map that packed Black voters—who overwhelmingly support Democrats—into just one of the state's seven districts. By doing so, lawmakers ensured that white voters could be guaranteed to elect Republicans in the state's other six districts, creating a gerrymander favoring the GOP.