Alabama’s attorney general on Tuesday began appealing a federal ruling Monday that blocked Alabama’s new congressional maps.
A three-judge panel on Monday issued a preliminary injunction blocking Alabama’s plan to redraw congressional districts. Those judges ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, who argued the state’s new maps, which has just one majority-minority congressional district, violates the Voting Rights Act.
“And roughly two months before absentee voting begins, it is clear that the Court’s order will cause irreparable harm to Alabama, its aspiring congressional representatives, and the voters they seek to represent,” Alabama’s attorneys wrote in the emergency motion, according to the Associated Press.
The state is requesting the federal court to stay the Monday order during the appeals process, and argued in the filing that similar maps had been used in Alabama for decades with court approval, according to the AP.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said on Monday of the federal ruling that he planned to appeal.
