The Supreme Court has cleared Alabama to use a congressional map that removes one of the state’s two majority-Black districts, per NBC News. In a brief 6-3 emergency order, the justices said the state is likely to prevail in arguing that the map is legal, even though lower courts found it discriminated against Black voters.

The outcome is the latest turn in a long-running battle over how Alabama draws its congressional lines. A lower court had ruled that the 2023 map violated the 14th Amendment and followed the Supreme Court’s earlier finding that Alabama’s previous map broke the Voting Rights Act. 

But the new map, adopted after that ruling, still left just one majority-Black district in a state where Black voters make up a significant share of the electorate. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority’s decision “disregards both democratic values and the rule of law,” in her dissent.

“Just three years ago, this same Supreme Court agreed that Alabama had discriminated against Black voters in drawing its maps,” said Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures in a statement. He went on to say the decision was not a surprise given the court’s recent actions.

Even modest changes in district boundaries can weaken Black political power, and the Alabama ruling is another setback in the fight to keep Black voters from being split or packed into districts with less influence. The court’s order did not provide a full explanation, but it signals the conservative majority is willing to let Alabama use the map while the legal fight continues.

“The Supreme Court has now confirmed that there is no longer a Voting Rights Act in America, and states are essentially free to discriminate against minority voters with no consequences. This is a dangerous ruling that sets the State and this nation back decades,” Figures said.