In the U.S. Supreme Court's first major racial gerrymandering case since the 2020 census, Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan clashed, with Kavanaugh accusing Kagan of "catchy, but worn-out rhetoric," and Kagan charging Kavanaugh and the majority of a "disservice to Black Alabamians."

In Merrill v. Milligan and Merrill v. Caster, which came to the court as an emergency application for a stay, the justices ruled 5-4 to block a three-judge district court ruling that Alabama's new congressional district map violated the Voting Rights Act because it unlawfully diluted the votes of the state's Black population. The court had ordered the state Legislature to redraw the map for the 2022 elections.