How Alabama could get away with defying the Supreme Court

Last month, the Supreme Court held that Alabama violated the Voting Rights Act when it drew racially gerrymandered congressional districts. Under maps drawn by the state’s Republican legislature, Black voters (who make up more than a quarter of Alabama’s population) only had a real shot of electing a member of the US House in one of the state’s seven districts. The Court effectively ordered Alabama to draw a second district that was likely to elect a candidate preferred by Black Alabamians.

The state’s response to this Supreme Court decision was swift and defiant. Last...