Trump-Appointed Judge Pushes For New Majority Black State Senate District In Alabama

Montgomery’s District 25 is currently represented by Sen. Will Barfoot, a white Republican, and District 26 is represented by Sen. Kirk Hatcher, a Black Democrat.

A federal judge, appointed by President Donald Trump, rules that the state of Alabama must redraw its Senate map to include a majority Black — or close to — district in Montgomery, or be in violation of the Voting Rights Act, AL reports.

The current map gives Black voters a lesser chance to elect a candidate of their choice compared to other voters, U.S. District Judge Anna M. Manasco found that the Montgomery section violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. “As the Legislature considers such plans, it should be mindful of the practical reality, based on the ample evidence of intensely racially polarized voting adduced during the trial, that any remedial plan will need to include an additional district in the Montgomery area in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it,” the judge wrote.

Montgomery’s District 25 is currently represented by Sen. Will Barfoot, a white Republican, and District 26 is represented by Sen. Kirk Hatcher, a Black Democrat. With all 140 seats in the Legislature, including the 35 Senate seats, being on the ballot for the 2026 elections, the ruling comes at the right time and is being celebrated by civil rights advocates. “This decision proves that when we challenge injustice, we can make progress, Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, said in a statement.

Manasco’s ruling coincides with a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Alabama, the Legal Defense Fund, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, seeking to block the state from using the current map for its state Senate election. Two weeks before the judge’s ruling, a federal court ruled Alabama must continue to use a court-drawn Congressional district map until 2030.

The battle over the state diluting Black voting power has been ongoing since 2021, causing continuous back and forth between lawmakers and the high court. In 2023, the GOP-controlled Alabama Legislature drew new maps after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the judging panel — including Manasco — in finding that the map, which had only one majority-Black district out of seven in a state with a 27% Black resident population, likely violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act.

The ruling comes with some backlash as plaintiffs in the lawsuit pushed for violations against the Huntsville portion of the map, but Manasco ruled that it did not. Deuel Ross, director of Litigation at the Legal Defense Fund, called the ruling “a hard-fought victory for Black voters in Montgomery who deserve fair representation in the Alabama Senate,” but says the fight needs to continue in Huntsville. “The court’s decision recognizes that, even today, the State continues its terrible history of discriminating against Black voters,” Ross said.

“While we welcome this win, leaving the Huntsville district in place illustrates that voters must continue to fight for their voices to be heard.”

As Trump seemingly started a battle of congressional seats after demanding Texas “find” five Republican seats, Alabama State Sen. Steve Livingston, who also serves as majority leader, said leaders are “pleased” with the court’s ruling on Huntsville, but, according to WCVB, is “disappointed by the ruling in the Montgomery area.” We will determine next steps after a thorough review of the opinion in the coming days,” he said.

Alabama’s primary is scheduled for May 19.