A panel of federal judges on Monday blocked Alabama from using congressional district maps that would dilute the votes of Black people in the 2026 midterm elections.

The ruling in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Ala., which found that the maps “intentionally discriminated based on race,” sets the stage for the Supreme Court to determine whether the maps, which were first proposed in 2023, can be used by Alabama this year.

The three-judge panel issued its ruling in response to the Supreme Court telling it to revisit the question of whether the maps could be used in light of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in a case known as Louisiana v. Callais, which found that Louisiana’s drawing of its own congressional map was a racial gerrymander.

The panel noted that it previously had ruled that Alabama’s map of districts violated the “Voting Rights Act of 1965 and intentionally discriminated against Black voters based on race in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

The ruling came four days after the panel heard oral arguments about the maps, and as Republicans are battling to defend an ultra-thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“As we see it, the irreducible minimum is that federal law requires that all Alabamians have an opportunity to vote under districting plans untainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” the panel wrote.

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