MOBILE, Alabama — The only way for federal courts to stop making a mess of political redistricting is for them to stop assessing district maps through racial lenses.

A federal three-judge panel in Alabama on Monday ordered that the state’s new congressional district lines be reengineered within two weeks to create a second black-majority district, or “something quite close to it.” Never mind that for 30 years the state has had a stable percentage of black voters (roughly 25%-27%) and that courts approved markedly similar district maps, maps in which six of the seven districts had white majority populations, for that entire time.