Merrill v. Milligan

The State of Alabama (defendant) engaged in redistricting of its congressional districts following the 2020 census. Alabama claimed that the methods it used for this redistricting were the same methods it had used for several decades. A group of voters (the voters) (plaintiffs) claimed that the districts, as redistricted by Alabama, violated federal voting-rights law. The voters sued Alabama. A three-judge district-court panel concluded that the redistricting plan likely violated federal law based on Supreme Court precedent and ordered Alabama to redraw the congressional-district maps. The order gave Alabama only a few weeks to redraw the maps ahead of the March 30, 2022, primary elections, though there were several months before the general election. The court also declined Alabama’s request to stay (i.e., stop) the order for the 2022 elections, even though Alabama had only a few weeks to make the changes. Alabama sought to appeal the merits of the district court’s decision to the Supreme Court, which the Court granted. On the merits, Alabama argued that the precedent on which the district court relied needed to be revisited. Alabama also sought an emergency stay of the district court’s order regarding the 2022 elections while the merits were pending with the Supreme Court. Alabama argued that implementing the order for the 2022 elections would create chaos for the elections because of how close in time the elections were to the court’s redrawing order. For example, according to Alabama, some candidates would not even know what district they needed to file to run in because the maps would be subject to change.