State files emergency orders in redistricting case

April 30, 2026 – WASHINGTON D.C. – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) has filed three emergency motions at the Supreme Court following the Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais earlier this week.

Yesterday Governor Kay Ivey (R) released a statement where she appeared to oppose attempting to redistrict Alabama's Congressional Districts in the wake of yesterday's Callais decision.

This evening Governor Ivey announced her support for Steve Marshall's actions to ask the court to lift the injunction keeping the state from redistricting until after the 2030 Census results are known.

"I applaud Attorney General Steve Marshall and Secretary of State Wes Allen for quickly filing emergency motions at the Supreme Court regarding Alabama's redistricting case," said Governor Ivey. "As I have said time and again, Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts better than the federal courts or activist groups. I remain hopeful that Alabama receives a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court."

Alabama's Secretary of State Wes Allen (R) has requested that the Supreme Court expedite consideration of Alabama's redistricting case in the aftermath of the landmark Louisiana v. Callais decision.

"As the appellant in Alabama's redistricting case, I have taken the legal measures necessary, in cooperation with Alabama's Attorney General Steve Marshall to ask the US Supreme Court to take quick and decisive action which will allow Alabama to pursue congressional maps that reflect the will of the people," Allen said. "It is my hope that our right as Alabamians to draw districts will be swiftly restored and that the days of court appointed mapmakers will be behind us."

Attorney General Marshall Files Emergency Motions to Lift Congressional Map Injunctions in Wake of U.S. Supreme Court's Callais Decision

The motions were filed in three redistricting cases, Allen v. Singleton, Allen v. Milligan, and Allen v. Caster, and ask the Court to act quickly to vacate the injunctions so Alabama can have the "same opportunity as other States to use a lawfully enacted congressional map free of an injunction that cannot be reconciled with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act" as recently construed by the high court.

"The Supreme Court has now made clear that you cannot assume race and politics are the same thing, you have to actually show they're separate," AG Marshall said. "Because the lower court's injunction cannot stand in light of the Supreme Court's ruling, we have asked the court to lift the injunction. Alabama deserves the right to use its own maps, just like every other state."

"In Callais, the Supreme Court ruled that plaintiffs challenging a state's congressional map under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act cases cannot treat race and political affiliation as interchangeable, and if they "cannot disentangle race from the State's race-neutral considerations, including politics, then Section 2 cannot impose liability." Attorney General Marshall argues that the district court did not hold the plaintiffs challenging Alabama's congressional map to that standard.

In the Alabama Congressional redistricting case, a lower federal court vacated two different redistricting plans lawfully drawn by the Alabama Legislature. When the state refused to submit a third map – only to have it rejected again – the Atlanta court ordered a court appointed special master to draw a plan. The judges picked one of three racially gerrymandered plans designed to create a second majority minority district prepared by its handpicked special master without consulting the state. Marshall, Allen, and Ivey all vigorously objected to the heavy handed treatment that the state received at the hands of federal court in Atlanta. The state has never lifted its appeal of that controversial 2023 decision. The Louisiana redistricting case closely parallels Alabama's experience.

The motions ask the Supreme Court to expedite the cases, vacate the injunctions and lower court judgments, and remand for proceedings consistent with Callais.

The Governor of Louisiana has already told the Congressional candidates that the May 16 primaries are on hold.

The Congressional primaries in Alabama are on May 19.

Steve Marshall is running for U.S. Senate.

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