By John Kruzel

WASHINGTON Alabama officials on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to temporarily halt a lower court's ruling that rejected a Republican-crafted electoral map for diminishing the clout of Black voters, escalating a legal dispute with potentially broad implications for the 2024 congressional elections.

The state's request concerned Tuesday's decision by three federal judges in Birmingham who found that the map approved by the Republican-led state legislature to set the boundaries of Alabama's seven U.S. House districts was unlawfully biased against Black voters and must be redrawn.

That map was devised after the Supreme Court in June blocked a previous version, also for weakening the voting power of Black Alabamians.

(Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Sandra Maler)