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(Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

A three-judge federal court panel has blocked Alabama from using in next year's elections 12 legislative districts challenged as unconstitutional by black political groups.

The districts are part of the district map drawn and approved by the Republican-led Alabama Legislature after the 2010 Census and were used in the 2014 election.

The judges ruled for the plaintiffs on 12 of the 36 districts in dispute and enjoined the state from using those district lines again.

The court ruled in favor of the state on the other 24 districts that were challenged.

All 140 seats in the Alabama Legislature will be up for election next year.

One of the three judges, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, issued a separate order dissenting, in part, from the other two judges, Circuit Judge Bill Pryor and Chief District Judge Keith Watkins.

Thompson agreed on the 12 districts that were found unconstitutional but also found that 12 of the other 24 were unconstitutional.

In the main opinion today, Pryor wrote that lawmakers faced a difficult job in balancing the requirement not to reduce the number of districts where a majority of voters are black with the prohibition against making race the primary factor in drawing the lines.

The state Constitution requires the Legislature to redraw legislative districts after every 10-year census.

Republicans won a majority in the Legislature in 2010 for the first time since Reconstruction and approved a new district plan in 2012.

The plan did not reduce the number of districts with a majority of black voters.

But the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, Alabama Democratic Conference and others sued, claiming that the plan excessively packed black voters into majority black districts, reducing their influence in other districts.

Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, called today's ruling a victory for the caucus.

"We fought it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court," Knight said.

Joe Reed, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference, who has been involved in redistricting cases since the 1970s, said today's decision was a decisive win for the ADC and the other plaintiffs.

"It's not a partial victory," Reed said. "It's a 100 percent victory."

The three-judge district court had ruled in favor of the state in 2013, but the U.S. Supreme vacated that ruling in 2015 and sent the case back to the district court, which issued its new decision today.

James Blacksher, an attorney for the Alabama Association of Black County Officials, a plaintiff in the case, said the ruling will affect many more than the 12 districts because of the ripple effect.

"They've got to go about the whole redistricting process in a different way," Blacksher said.

Blacksher said the court found that the Legislature relied too heavily on race in drawing the district lines. Blacksher said the court opinion, hundreds of pages long, is complex. One factor, he said, is that the Legislature did not sufficiently incorporate county lines into setting the district boundaries.

Senate Minority Leader Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, issued a statement supporting today's decision. His district is one of those found unconstitutional.

"I, along with my Democratic colleagues, look forward to participating in the new redistricting process to ensure that constitutional lines are drawn and our citizens' right to our participatory democracy is restored," Ross said.

Defendants said they are still reviewing the ruling but saw some positive aspects to it.

Sen. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, who co-chaired the Legislature's redistricting committee, said it was a relief that the court did not order special elections ahead of the scheduled 2018 elections.

"That takes away a lot of angst," McClendon said.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said his office is going over the decision.

"While we are still reviewing the 627-page ruling, we are pleased that the Court upheld the constitutionality of two-thirds of the state legislative districts under challenge," Strange said in a statement. "We will determine the next steps in consultation with the Legislative leadership and the Governor."

Gov. Robert Bentley's legal team is reviewing the ruling and will brief the governor at a later time, said Yasamie August, communications director for Bentley.

Alabama House Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, issued a statement praising the ruling.

"Today's ruling highlights the need to take the politics out of drawing legislative districts and instead, rely on an independent, non-partisan commission," Ford said. "We look forward to working with the leadership to quickly solve this issue so that the 2018 elections take place without controversy or conflict."

The court enjoined the states from using:

Senate District 20 in Jefferson County, represented by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham.

Senate District 26 in Montgomery County, represented by Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery.

Senate District 28 in Barbour, Bullock, Henry, Houston, Lee, Macon and Russell counties, represented by Sen. Billy Beasley, D-Clayton.

House District 32 in Calhoun and Talladega counties, represented by Rep. Barbara Boyd, D-Anniston.

House District 53 in Madison County, represented by Rep. Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville.

House District 54 in Jefferson County, represented by Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham.

House District 70 in Tuscaloosa County, represented by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa.

House District 71 in Choctaw, Greene, Marengo, Pickens, Sumter and Tuscaloosa counties, represented by Rep. A.J. McCampbell, D-Livingston.

House District 77 in Montgomery County, represented by Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery.

House District 82 in Lee, Macon and Tallapoosa counties, represented by Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee.

House District 85 in Henry and Houston counties, represented by Rep. Dexter Grimsley, D-Newville.

House District 99 in Mobile County, represented by Rep. James Buskey, D-Mobile.

The court's majority opinion, written by Pryor, says the Legislature faced a difficult task in 2012.

The 14th Amendment requires legislative districts to include roughly the same number of people and prohibits racial gerrymandering, Pryor wrote.

Also, the Voting Rights Act prohibits the state from drawing district lines that negatively affect the ability of black voters to elect candidates of their choice.

"In other words, the legislature had to draw districts of roughly equal population that were conscious enough of race to comply with the Voting Rights Act, but not so conscious of race that they violated the Fourteenth Amendment," Pryor wrote.

In drawing the 2012 plan, the Legislature used the same criteria used in previous plans with one exception, Pryor wrote.

The Democrat-controlled Legislature, in drawing a plan in 2001, had allowed districts to vary in population by plus or minus 5 percent.

According to the 2010 Census, all 34 of the majority black districts from the 2001 plan were underpopulated, most of them by more than 5 percent.

The Republicans, in drawing their plan, narrowed the allowed deviation among districts to plus or minus 1 percent.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Corrected at 2:17 p.m. on Jan. 21 to give correct title for Sen. Quinton Ross.