The order gives the legislature 14 days to draw a new map that includes “two districts in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.”
The court also delayed the state’s ballot qualification deadline from January 28 to February 11.
“This decision is a win for Alabama’s black voters, who have been denied equal representation for far too long,” former US Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement Monday evening released by the National Redistricting Foundation, which it said had supported the plaintiffs in the case.
“The court’s decision reminds us that the moral arc of the universe does indeed bend toward justice — but only when enough people join together and pull it toward justice,” Holder added.