The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Thursday issued a 2–1 decision staying a lower court ruling that had struck down Jefferson County’s 2021 redistricting plan as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

The stay temporarily halts U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala’s September 16 injunction, which had barred the county from using its 2021 map in future elections. Haikala found that the county map was unconstitutional because race was the predominant factor in the Jefferson County Commission’s drawing of districts. The ruling came in a 2023 lawsuit that says the plan overly packed Black voters, who make up 40 percent of the county population, into just two districts.

In their majority order, Circuit Judges Elizabeth L. Branch and Robert J. Luck granted the Jefferson County

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