UNITED STATES PERSPECTIVE

Washington D.C., May 28, 2026. The electoral redistricting battle in Southern U.S. states has turned into an open judicial showdown just months ahead of midterm elections. In Alabama, a three-judge federal panel in Birmingham reiterated its ban on using the redistricting map adopted by the Republican state legislature in 2023, deeming it 'intentionally discriminatory on racial grounds, in violation of the Constitution.' Notably, two of the three judges on this panel were appointed by President Trump himself. The state immediately filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court, arguing that the court's decision 'defies Callais, circumvents the Purcell principle, and offends the constitutional promise of equal protection.' The reference to Louisiana v. Callais is not insignificant: this Supreme Court decision in April 2026 redefined racial gerrymandering in Louisiana, offering Republicans a new legal lever in their cartographic battles. Judge Clarence Thomas, who oversees the 11th circuit, refused to grant an immediate stay, but ordered the plaintiffs to justify by Monday why the legislative map should not be reinstated – leaving the case in limbo. The current map in effect in Alabama, drawn by a special master appointed by the courts, had allowed the election of Democratic Representative Shomari Figures in a reconstituted majority-black district in 2024. It is precisely this seat that Republicans seek to retake before November. In Tennessee, the case is even more frontal. State Representative Justin Pearson, who had been campaigning for a congressional seat in the Memphis region for months, saw his district erased in three days during a special session. The new map, promulgated by Governor Bill Lee on May 7, fragmented the only majority-black district into three zones absorbed by Republican-dominated districts. According to an analysis by Cook Political Report, a non-partisan organization, the 9th district has shifted from a solid Democratic seat to a Republican stronghold with nine estimated points of advantage. Pearson told TIME: 'It's a viscerally painful experience to see the community I was fighting to represent transformed so radically in an attempt to steal an election from the president.' This map, adopted after a phone call from Trump to Governor Lee, as Pearson reported, is the first gerrymandered map created after the Supreme Court's decision weakening the Voting Rights Act – opening a feared precedent for civil rights organizations. The underlying political dynamic is clear. Axios reports that Trump eliminated Senator John Cornyn from Texas with a 28-point margin – the largest primary defeat of a sitting senator since 1978 – in favor of Ken Paxton, a controversial attorney general. Among Trump's grievances was the resistance of several lawmakers to his redistricting efforts. Republicans privately acknowledge a risk: Paxton will be harder to fund and more vulnerable in November against Democrat James Talarico in a Texas that the new maps were supposed to secure.