Thursday, May 28 — Alabama’s emergency appeal landed with U.S

The August calendar is now in Justice Thomas’s hands — and he did not give Alabama the quick answer it wanted.

On Wednesday, May 27, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed emergency stay applications with the U.S. Supreme Court in the three consolidated redistricting cases, asking the Court to block the May 26 federal injunction and let the state use its 2023 congressional map. The applications were directed to Associate Justice Clarence Thomas in his role as Circuit Justice for the Eleventh Circuit, which covers Alabama (source: Alabama Attorney General’s Office release, May 27, 2026).

The state asked for a ruling by 10 a.m. on June 1. That is not what it got. Justice Thomas declined to immediately restore the 2023 map and instead ordered the plaintiffs to file their response by Monday, June 1, at 4 p.m. — six hours later than the deadline Marshall requested, and with no administrative stay in the interim (source: Alabama Daily News and Election Law Blog, May 27, 2026). In plain terms: the fast answer Alabama wanted did not come, and the question stays open into next week.

What that means for the District 2 calendar: which map governs the August special primary is not settled. Governor Ivey has already amended the calendar once in response, pushing the candidate-certification deadline from Friday to June 3 (source: Alabama Reflector, May 27, 2026). Watch the Supreme Court order list Monday afternoon.

The appeal is on Justice Thomas’s desk. He did not grant the quick stay. Plaintiffs respond by 4 p.m. Monday, June 1. The August calendar waits on the answer.

The record does not wait on the Court. Day 11 of the closure.

Fresenius Kidney Care closed its Tuskegee dialysis center on Sunday, May 17. Today is Thursday, May 28 — the eleventh day the building has stood empty. The roughly fifty Macon County patients who relied on it have now spent eleven days absorbing the drive to Tallassee, to Auburn, and to Union Springs, three times a week, across two full business weeks and a federal holiday weekend.

The last public statement from the congressman’s office on this closure remains the March 18 release — the one that announced Fresenius had agreed to delay the shutdown until May 17 after outreach from Tuskegee Mayor Chris Lee, and pledged to keep working on long-term solutions (source: figures.house.gov, accessed May 28, 2026). That release is now 71 days old. The closure date it named has come and gone. No successor operator has been named publicly. No federal bill on rural dialysis access has been introduced. No Macon County site visit has appeared on the schedule.

11 days of an empty dialysis center. 71 days since the office last said a word about it.

The press releases listing has not moved since February 3.

As of this morning, the chronological press releases listing on figures.house.gov shows February 3, 2026 as its most recent dated entry (source: figures.house.gov/media/press-releases, accessed May 28, 2026). That is the public, browsable record of the office’s announcements, and it has not advanced in nearly four months.

To be precise — because the contrast only works if it is exact: the office has issued releases since February that surface elsewhere on the site, including a March 25 item on the homepage feed. The point is not that the office has gone silent on everything. The point is narrower and sharper: the one closure that affects constituents in a building they drive past has not produced a single statement since March 18, while legal news from Washington has produced statements within hours.

He convenes the district to talk about his fights. Not about the district’s.

The incumbent is not hard to find when the subject is the map. On the evening of May 7, he held a Montgomery town hall on redistricting and voting rights, speaking to a crowd of roughly a hundred about district lines and the litigation (source: Alabama Reflector, May 8, 2026). When the May 11 Supreme Court order came, he had a statement. When the May 26 federal injunction came, he had a statement within hours. The engagement is real — when the issue is the one that decides his own seat.

Set that beside the closure. The Tuskegee dialysis center went dark on May 17 and has stayed dark for eleven days. There has been no town hall in Macon County on it. No site visit on the schedule. No statement since March 18, now seventy-one days ago. The office will gather a hundred people to talk about the boundary lines of the district; it has not gathered the patients of Tuskegee to talk about the building they can no longer use.

That is the contrast that does not move with the map. He shows up for the fights that serve his position — the redistricting docket, the Washington floor votes, the voting-rights podium. The fight that would serve fifty dialysis patients in Macon County is the one that has gone quiet. Whatever lines the Court settles on next week, the priorities the schedule reveals do not change.

Two Columns — what the office has said and what the office has done

Said | Done |

The March 18 release named the gap the Tuskegee closure would open in the Macon County health care system. | The gap opened May 17. No follow-up release. No closure-day statement. No public site visit. Day 11 of the closure today. |

The same release pledged to keep working on long-term solutions for dialysis treatment. | 71 days later: no long-term solution named publicly, no successor operator identified, no federal bill introduced. |

Held a Montgomery town hall on redistricting and voting rights on May 7; issued injunction statements within hours on May 26. | No Macon County town hall on the dialysis closure. No site visit. No statement in 71 days. |

Public statements from the office on the Tuskegee closure since May 17: | None. |

Most recent dated entry on the figures.house.gov press releases listing: | February 3, 2026. |

What the campaign work looks like this week.

Whatever the Supreme Court does with the map on Monday, the campaign work this week is the same. Carry the record of the office into every conversation. Show people who live in District 2 what the press releases listing looks like this morning. Tell them how many days have passed since the office last said a word about a closure in a building they drive past.

The map question is being settled in Washington, on Justice Thomas’s timeline, not ours. The record question is being settled in the kitchens, the church halls, and the diners of District 2. The first one is out of our hands. The second one is the work we do.

Three things to carry into the week.

Carry the count. 11 days of an empty dialysis center. 71 days of silence on its closure. Carry those numbers when you talk about this office.

Decouple the map fight from the record fight. The map question is on Justice Thomas’s desk until at least Monday. The record question is closed. Whatever lines run, this office did not show up for Tuskegee. Take the record fight to the voters this week.

Watch Monday, but do the work today. The Supreme Court response deadline is 4 p.m. Monday, June 1. The campaign work to take back District 2 begins again every morning whatever the docket does. Today, the work is the conversation in front of you.