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Via an unattributed order, the U.S. Supreme Court permitted Texas to implement a redrawn congressional district plan that could add several five additional conservative-tilting districts. The six-to-three ruling, released on Thursday, upholds a request by the state to set aside a district court's ruling that had struck down the redistricting plan in November.

Justices' Reasoning

The lower court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and disrupting the delicate federal-state balance in elections, the justices wrote in explaining its action.

The federal court had earlier ruled that Texas had probably sorted voters by their race – a practice known as racial gerrymandering – when it passed the new maps. It had ordered the state to employ the maps established after the most recent national count for the upcoming election.

Stinging Opposition

With a forcefully written objection, Justice Elena Kagan took issue with the majority's action. She argued that it undermined the work of the lower court, observing that its decision was written by a judge nominated by ex-President Donald Trump.

While our court is superior in jurisdiction, we are not superior in making these fact-intensive determinations, Kagan argued in a opinion supported by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Kagan added, Today's ruling guarantees that Texas's redistricting plan, with all its increased favoritism, will dictate next year's elections. And it means that many Texas residents, without justification, will be grouped in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced consistently, is a breach of the law of the land.

Countrywide Redistricting Battle

The court's action occurs during a national fight over the remapping of electoral maps. Texas is an essential part in campaigns to transform the U.S. House map to protect a slim Republican hold. Typically, map-drawing occurs after a decennial population count. Yet the move by Texas Republicans to initiate a brazen off-cycle redistricting earlier in the summer set off a wave among other states.

GOP lawmakers in including North Carolina and Missouri have also passed new maps that are estimated to yield a number of additional GOP-friendly seats. The opposition, in response, have responded with revised boundaries in including California and Virginia, which are intended to balance those projected gains.

Partisan Responses

Lone Star State AG praised the High Court's decision. In a comment, he said the order upheld Texas's basic authority to draw a map that guarantees electoral outcomes aligned with his party. Our state is leading the charge to reclaim the nation, one district and one state at a time, he added.

Conversely, Democratic officials lamented the outcome. The Court's approval of this extreme, racially gerrymandered Texas GOP map is profoundly disappointing, said the chair of a major party election organization.

A top Democratic figure said the court had once again eroded its standing 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 concluded.