Republican governors in Alabama and Tennessee have summoned state lawmakers back for special sessions next week to overhaul congressional maps, responding directly to a landmark Supreme Court ruling that weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The move signals an aggressive push to reshape electoral districts in the wake of the Court’s decision.
Alabama’s legislature will convene in Montgomery on Monday, with Governor Kay Ivey directing them to consider moving the state’s May 19 primaries. This comes as the state awaits a Supreme Court ruling on whether it can revert to a previous congressional map for the November midterms. The Republican-controlled legislature had been ordered to create a second majority-Black district after the Court found in 2023 that the post-2020 census map diluted Black voting power, violating Section 2 of the VRA.
Ivey announced the special session on Friday, stating that Alabama’s attorney general has filed emergency motions with the Court and that she expects a “favorable outcome.” She added, “By calling the Legislature into a special session, I am ensuring Alabama is prepared should the courts act quickly enough to allow Alabama’s previously drawn congressional and state senate maps to be used during this election cycle.” This marks a reversal for Ivey, who had initially said she would wait for legal arguments to settle, according to AL.com.
In Tennessee, Governor Bill Lee has called lawmakers back to Nashville for a session starting Tuesday to review the state’s congressional map. “We owe it to Tennesseans to ensure our congressional districts accurately reflect the will of Tennessee voters,” Lee said Friday, a day after President Donald Trump signaled the plan. The Supreme Court’s ruling in the Louisiana case has emboldened Republicans to move quickly.
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who is running for governor, urged the legislature on Wednesday to draw maps that would favor Republicans in all nine House districts, specifically targeting the Memphis-based seat held by Democrat Steve Cohen. “It’s essential to cement @realDonaldTrump’s agenda and the Golden Age of America,” she wrote on X, vowing to “do everything” possible to achieve that goal.
Alabama and Tennessee are the first states to act decisively after the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling, which struck down Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The decision, split along ideological lines, effectively narrowed the VRA provision used to justify majority-minority districts aimed at protecting minority voting power. Critics have denounced the ruling as a modern-day Jim Crow tactic.
Republicans widely praised the decision, while Democrats condemned it as an assault on voting rights, particularly for minorities in the South. Some Democrats worry it could create more pickup opportunities for Republicans in the midterms. Former Vice President Kamala Harris warned in a social media video on Friday, “What now is going to happen is it’s going to be more difficult to challenge those laws that get passed that we know are intended to make it more difficult for you to have the representatives that you want.” She urged supporters not to be discouraged, saying, “They may put all kinds of obstacles in front of us. Let’s not fall for it.”
