Trump's Trials - Alabama holding special session to redraw congressional maps

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

The Alabama Legislature is holding a special session this week to change the state's congressional map. The move comes after the U.S. Supreme Court weakened a central part of the Voting Rights Act. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

It's Trump's terms from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. Every episode, we bring you a story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president with a focus on ways he's using power like no president before him. Here is the latest from NPR. From NPR news, I'm you Martinez. Alabama's Republican-controlled legislature is in the middle of a special session to change its congressional maps. The session started Monday in response to last week's Supreme Court ruling that limited how the

Voting Rights Act can be applied. The decision effectively removes race as a consideration for drawing district lines. Here's NPR's Debbie Elliott. Ladies and gentlemen, the Alabama Senate will now come to order. Republican leaders want the state to use 2023 congressional maps drawn by the legislature, maps that federal courts found discriminated against black voters. A three-judge panel imposed a new map that gave Alabama a second black Democrat in Congress. Now, GOP House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter says they have an opportunity for Republicans to win all seven of Alabama's congressional seats. The people voted to have the supermajority as a way it is today. And so this is the voice of the people. I mean, we had three judges determined how five million people are supposed to vote.

This is not just Alabama history. This is world history. Democratic State Representative Wondolin Gavan of Birmingham. Alabama is first out the shoot. So today in history, there was a bill filed in that will basically say that people that look like me, people that are black, people that come from marginalized communities, do not deserve to have representation. Republicans argue no one is taking away anyone's vote. State Senator Chris Elliott says they're selecting a map that aligns with the Supreme Court. You can use partisanship in redistricting. And so as a partisan, right, as a Republican senator, I'm interested in making sure we have as many Republicans to support the president to support Speaker Johnson as possible.

Outside the State House, civil rights activist promised a fight. We got a what? We got a what? Cheyenne Webb-Priceburg was just eight years old when she marched on Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, when law officers beat peaceful protesters trying to march to Montgomery to demand equal voting rights. As I reflect on that bloody Sunday march, I am deeply sad to stand here today for us to be in the state and which we're in fighting. Civil rights groups say they will maintain a presence at the statehouse as lawmakers debate changing Alabama's congressional district. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Montgomery.

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