The US Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for Alabama to use a controversial Republican-backed congressional map, handing President Donald Trump's party a victory ahead of the midterm elections in November.
A lower court had blocked the state from reinstating a 2023 map that it found would discriminate against black voters.
The Supreme Court has now halted that decision, allowing Alabama to use the map for the time being. The ruling could help Republicans defend their narrow majority in the House of Representatives, where even a single seat could prove decisive.
All seats in the house and part of the Senate are up for election in the November 3 midterms. With margins tight in both chambers of Congress, Republicans and Democrats have been locked in increasingly bitter battles over the redrawing of electoral districts in several states.
Both parties are seeking to improve their chances at the ballot box through redistricting, a process that has become one of the central political fights ahead of the midterms.
The Supreme Court had already weakened minority protections in voting rights in April.
In Alabama, a federal court stepped in at the end of May and issued a temporary injunction against the planned redistricting. The court found that the map would split black voters, who tend to support Democrats, across several districts, reducing the impact of their votes.
Both parties in the United States have long used redistricting to strengthen their electoral prospects, often by concentrating or dividing voters in ways that make particular districts more favourable.
Under Trump, however, the practice has intensified sharply and is being waged more aggressively.
