Jim Crow 2.0?

The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Alabama to redraw its congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterms, CBS News reports. This decision will more than likely reshape one of the country’s most closely watched voting-rights fights.

The court’s conservative majority set aside lower-court rulings that had blocked the state from using a GOP-drawn plan with just one majority-Black district, sending the case back for more proceedings.

“For too long, unelected federal judges have had more say over Alabama’s elections than Alabama’s voters,” said Attorney General Steve Marshall of Alabama, per The New York Times. “That ended today.”

At the center of the dispute is whether Alabama must keep a second majority-Black district to comply with the Voting Rights Act. A lower court had forced the state to use a map with two such districts in 2024, but the Supreme Court’s new move follows an earlier ruling that made it harder to prove racial discrimination in redistricting. Now, Alabama’s delegation is split between five Republicans and two Democrats, and the change could help the GOP try to flip a Democratic seat.

"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, per CBS. "Americans, no less in Alabama, deserve a republic free of racial sorting now, and state officials deserve an opportunity to give it to them."

The decision arrives during a fast-moving election calendar: Alabama’s primary is set for May 19, and GOP Gov. Kay Ivey has already signed a law authorizing a special election if districts shift again. Civil rights advocates say the case could have major implications beyond Alabama, since it may further weaken protections that have long helped Black voters challenge maps they argue dilute their power.

The court did not explain its ruling, but Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, warning that the decision could create confusion as voters prepare for the next election.

For now, Alabama is moving closer to a new map, with the final outcome still tied up in the lower courts.

“We are witnessing a return to Jim Crow. And anybody who is alarmed by these developments—as everybody should be—better be making a plan to vote in November to put an end to this madness while we still can,” NAACP National President Derrick Johnson said in a statement to the Associated Press.