The US Supreme Court on Tuesday denied Alabama’s appeal of a court order prohibiting elections with gerrymandered congressional maps.

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has battled claims that Alabama’s state congressional were racially gerrymandered since 2021. The case Milligan v. Allen made its way to the Supreme Court first in June, and the high court found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that the proposed congressional maps were racially gerrymandered. Plaintiffs claimed the congressional maps violated Section Two of the Voting Rights Act.

Despite the Supreme Court’s order, Alabama approved a second congressional map that disenfranchised Black voters. While Black residents are nearly 27 percent of Alabama’s population, they hold a majority in 14 percent of the state’s congressional districts. A federal district court found the second congressional map to be no better, and enjoined Alabama from conducting elections with it. Alabama appealed the federal district court’s order to the Supreme Court.

The federal district court appointed a Special Master to draw the new congressional maps. Following the Supreme Court’s order, it is likely that one of the Special Master’s recommendations will be implemented as Alabama’s congressional maps.

Alabama today discontinued the “Vote for Alabama” app, which was created by the previous Secretary of State to assist Alabamians with registering to vote and finding their polling places. Allen claims he ended the “vanity app” to cut costs.

In January, Alabama ended its participation in the Election Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonprofit with the stated mission to “improve the accuracy of America’s voter rolls and increase access to voter registration for all eligible citizens.” ERIC currently has less than 30 member states. Allen recently announced Alabama would maintain their own voter integrity database to ensure their voter rolls are “cleaner and more accurate than ever.”