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In a unattributed ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed Texas to implement a revised congressional district plan that could add up to five additional Republican-leaning districts. The six-to-three ruling, issued on Thursday, grants a petition by the state to lift a federal judge's ruling that had rejected the boundaries in November.

Court's Reasoning

The federal judge wrongly interjected itself into an ongoing primary campaign, causing considerable confusion and disturbing the fine federal-state balance in elections, the supreme court said in detailing its decision.

That lower court had earlier ruled that Texas had probably classified voters based on their race – a method known as racial gerrymandering – when it adopted the boundaries. It had ordered the state to revert to the boundaries created after the 2020 census for the next year's election.

Strong Opposition

In a strongly worded objection, Justice Elena Kagan objected to the court's action. She stated that it disregarded the work of the lower court, noting that its decision was actually authored by a judge selected by former President Donald Trump.

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

The justice went on, This court's stay guarantees that Texas's redistricting plan, with all its enhanced political tilt, will control next year's elections. And it means that many Texas voters, for no good reason, will be grouped in electoral districts due to their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced consistently, is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

National Map-Drawing Struggle

This decision is part of a nationwide contest over the redistricting of electoral maps. Texas is a key piece in campaigns to alter the U.S. House map to secure a slim Republican majority. Usually, redistricting occurs after a decennial population count. Yet the action by Texas Republicans to move ahead with a brazen mid-cycle redistricting earlier this year triggered a series of events among other states.

Conservative legislators in including North Carolina and Missouri have also approved new maps that are estimated to yield a number of more conservative seats. The opposition, in response, have responded with new maps in including California and Virginia, which could offset those projected gains.

Political Responses

The Texas attorney general praised the High Court's decision. In a comment, he said the order defended Texas's fundamental right to draw a map that guarantees representation supportive of the GOP. Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state, he remarked.

Conversely, Democratic representatives lamented the decision. It is deeply disheartening that the Court has endorsed this severely racially gerrymandered plan from Texas Republicans, said the leader of a major Democratic election organization.

A senior Democratic leader stated the court had yet again damaged its standing by upholding a race-based map. The ruling demonstrates a willingness to subvert democracy. This Texas plan is a partisan, racially biased scheme to undermine voter will, especially in communities of color, he concluded.