Special to the News
On Wednesday Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed emergency applications for a stay with the United States Supreme Court in “Allen v. Singleton,” “Allen v. Caster” and “Allen v. Milligan,” challenging a preliminary injunction issued May 26, by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama that blocks the state from using its 2023 congressional districting plan in the 2026 elections.
The applications, directed to Associate Justice Clarence Thomas as circuit justice for the Eleventh Circuit, ask the Court to stay the district court’s order and request a ruling before June 1. The state also requests an immediate administrative stay to allow election preparations to resume in the interim.
“Yesterday’s [Tuesday’s] decision was disappointing but was not surprising. The Supreme Court made it clear in ‘Callais’ that courts should not impose or require states to draw racially gerrymandered congressional maps. But the three-judge district court set that rule aside and once again replaced Alabama’s map with one that sorts voters based on race,” Attorney General Marshall said. “The extent to which there is confusion about the maps which Alabama uses for congressional districts seems to be with the three-judge panel, not the voters. The fact that our state’s conservative electorate has conservative representation is democracy, not an attack on it.”
“I believe we should have a 7-0 Republican congressional delegation that reflects Alabama’s voters and complies with the Supreme Court’s ruling in ‘Callais,’ and a stay from this decision is now the best avenue to achieve that goal. If the court will not uphold the law, I am confident that the Supreme Court will.”
The filings argue that the district court’s injunction conflicts with the Supreme Court’s recent decision in “Louisiana v. Callais” and interferes with the state’s redistricting law.
