Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Wes Allen, Alabama Secretary of State, et al. v. Marcus Caster, et al.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 25-11915, 25-12802
(petition-stage, structural)
Roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weights this up for a state or local-government petitioner and an Eleventh Circuit decision below.
Questions presented
Alabama’s 2021 congressional districting plan was preliminarily enjoined under §2 of the Voting Rights Act because it splintered one community of interest, the Black Belt, while keeping together another, the Gulf Coast. In 2023, Alabama passed a new plan uniting the Black Belt counties into as few districts as possible. Even so, the district court permanently enjoined the 2023 plan because it did not racially divide the Gulf to place more black voters from “Black Belt counties in a majority-Black district.” App.345. The court further held that the State’s refusal to intentionally create a second majority-minority district constituted intentional racial discrimination. The court dismissed the notion that the State was trying to avoid gerrymandering claims, though such claims were pending and others threatened; drew racial inferences from race-neutral legislative findings; held that the preliminary ruling on the 2021 Plan eliminated Alabama’s politics defense for the 2023 Plan; and treated efforts to persuade the court that the 2023 Plan was not racially dilutive as evidence of dilutive intent. The questions presented are:
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Does §2 require Alabama to segregate a conceded community of interest to combine black voters from that community with black voters elsewhere to form a majority-black district?
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Whether §2 can require Alabama to intentionally create a second majority-minority district without violating the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution?
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Does §2 create a privately enforceable right?
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Did Alabama violate the Fourteenth Amendment by declining to draw a race-based plan?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Alexander Barrett Bowdre
Office of Alabama Attorney General
For respondent
Abha Khanna
Elias Law Group LLP
Argument & decision
Decided May 11, 2026.
Proceedings
- May 11 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/14/2026.
- May 11 2026Response to application from respondents Marcus Caster, et al. filed.
- May 11 2026Motion to expedite GRANTED.
- May 11 2026Petition for writ of certiorari before judgment GRANTED. Judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama VACATED and case REMANDED to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit with instructions to remand to the District Court for further consideration in light of Louisiana v. Callais, 608 U. S. ___ (2026). The judgment will be issued forthwith pursuant to Rule 45.3. Justice Sotomayor, with whom Justice Kagan and Justice Jackson join, dissenting. (Detached Opinion)
- May 11 2026Judgment Issued.
- May 11 2026Application (25A1229) denied as moot by Justice Thomas.
- May 09 2026Letter of applicant Wes Allen, Alabama Secretary of State, et al. filed.
- May 08 2026Application (25A1229) for a stay, submitted to Justice Thomas.
- May 08 2026Response to application (25A1229) requested by Justice Thomas, due by 5 p.m. (EDT) on May 11, 2026.
- Apr 30 2026Motion to expedite consideration of jurisdictional statement and of this motion filed by petitioners Wes Allen, Alabama Secretary of State, et al.
- Apr 30 2026Response to motion to expedite consideration from appellees Marcus Caster, et al. filed.
- Nov 05 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/21/2025.
- Nov 04 2025Reply of petitioners Wes Allen, Alabama Secretary of State, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Oct 20 2025Brief of respondents Marcus Caster, et al. in opposition filed.
- Oct 03 2025Brief amicus curiae of North Dakota filed. VIDED.
- Oct 03 2025Brief amici curiae of Washington State Senator Nikki Torres, et al. filed. VIDED.
- Oct 03 2025Brief amici curiae of Louisiana, et al. filed. VIDED.
- Sep 23 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including October 20, 2025.
- Sep 22 2025Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 3, 2025 to October 20, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 26 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment filed. (Response due October 3, 2025)