🔗 Share this article

In a unsigned order, the U.S. Supreme Court permitted Texas to employ a revised congressional district plan that could add up to five additional Republican-leaning districts. The 6-3 ruling, issued on Thursday, grants a petition by the state to lift a lower court's injunction that had struck down the new map in November.

Justices' Explanation

The federal judge erroneously placed itself into an ongoing primary campaign, creating significant confusion and disrupting the delicate federal-state balance in elections, the supreme court said in detailing its decision.

The federal court had previously found that Texas had likely classified voters according to their race – a act known as unconstitutional racial sorting – when it passed the boundaries. It had mandated the state to revert to the maps established after the last decennial survey for the upcoming election.

Sharp Opposition

In a forcefully written objection, Justice Elena Kagan objected to the majority's decision. She argued that it undermined the work of the district court, observing that its opinion was written by a judge appointed by former President Donald Trump.

We are a higher court than the district court, but we are not a better one when it comes to making such a fact-based decision, Kagan stated in a opinion supported by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The justice went on, Today's ruling ensures that Texas's new map, with all its boosted favoritism, will dictate next year's elections. And it means that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be grouped in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced repeatedly, is a breach of the U.S. Constitution.

National Map-Drawing Struggle

This decision is part of a countrywide fight over the redrawing of electoral maps. Texas is an essential part in pushes to reshape the U.S. House map to protect a narrow Republican majority. Typically, redistricting takes place after a new decade's census. Yet the move by Texas Republicans to move ahead with a aggressive off-cycle redistricting earlier in the summer triggered a chain reaction among other states.

GOP lawmakers in including North Carolina and Missouri have also passed new maps that are estimated to yield several more conservative seats. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, have countered with new maps in including California and Virginia, which are intended to balance those projected gains.

Political Responses

The Texas AG praised the supreme court ruling. In a comment, he said the order upheld Texas's basic authority to draw a map that guarantees representation supportive of his party. We are setting the precedent for restoring our country, through each electoral district and individual state, he added.

In contrast, opposition party representatives criticized the decision. The Court's approval of this extreme, racially gerrymandered Texas GOP map is profoundly disappointing, said the head of a major Democratic campaign committee.

Another leading Democratic figure stated the court had yet again eroded its legitimacy by approving a discriminatory map. This decision from the Court's far-right bloc proves extremists are willing to rig elections. The Texas map is a discriminatory power grab targeting Black and Latino voters, he stated.