Supreme Court orders Alabama to follow Voting Rights Act in Allen v. Milligan

The Supreme Court rules in Allen v. Milligan on June 8, 2023, that Alabama likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by drawing a congressional map with only one Black-opportunity district. Chief Justice John Roberts writes the majority opinion, joined in key parts by Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the three liberal justices.\n\nAlabama argued that race-neutral mapmaking should control the case and that the plaintiffs' proposed maps relied too heavily on race. The Court rejects that approach and says the lower court correctly applied the Voting Rights Act framework.\n\nThe decision is a major voting-rights event because it preserves Section 2 as a tool for challenging vote dilution after Shelby County weakened preclearance in 2013.