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Wes Allen, Alabama Secretary of State, et al., Appellants v. Evan Milligan, et al.
Paid petition · United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, No. 2:21-cv-01530 · judgment May 8, 2025
Before the decision, about 5.1× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a direct appeal from a three-judge district court (mandatory jurisdiction), a state or local-government petitioner, and a petition citing three to ten dissents.
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 appellant
Alexander Barrett Bowdre
Office of Alabama Attorney General
For appellee
Deuel Ross
NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
Case
Subject area
Civil Rights (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
6 cert-stage
Related
Vide, 25-273
Proceedings
- May 11 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/14/2026.
- May 11 2026Response to application from respondent Evan Milligan, et al. filed.
- May 11 2026Motion to expedite GRANTED.
- May 11 2026Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED 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 (25A1231) denied as moot by Justice Thomas.
- May 09 2026Letter of applicant Wes Allen, et al. filed.
- May 08 2026Application (25A1231) for a stay, submitted to Justice Thomas.
- May 08 2026Response to application (25A1231) requested by Justice Thomas, due by 5 p.m. (EDT) on May 11, 2026.
- May 01 2026Response to motion to expedite consideration from appellees Evan Milligan, et al. filed.
- Apr 30 2026Motion to expedite consideration of jurisdictional statement and of this motion filed by appellants Wes Allen, et al.
- Nov 05 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/21/2025.
- Nov 04 2025Reply of appellants Wes Allen, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Oct 20 2025Motion of Evan Milligan, et al. to affirm not accepted for filing. (To be corrected - October 20, 2025)
- Oct 20 2025Motion to affirm filed by appellees Evan Milligan, et al.
- Oct 09 2025Brief amicus curiae of John Wahl, Chairman, Alabama State Republican Executive Committee filed. VIDED.
- Oct 09 2025Brief amicus curiae of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE) filed. VIDED.
- Oct 09 2025Brief amicus curiae of Project on Fair Representation filed. VIDED.
- 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 10, 2025 to October 20, 2025, submitted to The Clerk.
- Aug 26 2025Statement as to jurisdiction filed. (Response due October 10, 2025)
- Jul 25 2025Application (25A110) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until September 4, 2025.
- Jul 23 2025Application (25A110) to extend the time to file a jurisdictional statement on appeal from August 5, 2025 to September 4, 2025, submitted to Justice Thomas.