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In a per curiam order, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Texas to implement a redrawn congressional map that could add as many as five additional GOP-friendly districts. The 6-3 order, released on Thursday, upholds a petition by the state to set aside a federal judge's block that had rejected the redistricting plan in November.

Court's Reasoning

The lower court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, creating significant confusion and disturbing the delicate federal-state balance in elections, the order stated in explaining its ruling.

That lower court had previously found that Texas had probably classified voters based on their race – a act known as illegal race-based districting – when it adopted the boundaries. It had ordered the state to employ the districts created after the most recent national count for the next year's election.

Stinging Dissenting Opinion

With a sharply worded objection, Justice Elena Kagan criticized the majority's ruling. She contended that it disrespected the work of the lower court, pointing out that its opinion was written by a judge appointed by ex-President Donald Trump.

Our position is above the district court, but our capability is not greater for resolving such fact-driven issues, Kagan argued in a dissent joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She continued, The majority's order ensures that Texas's new map, with all its enhanced favoritism, will govern next year's elections. And it means that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be grouped in electoral districts based on their race. And that result, as this court has declared repeatedly, is a breach of the law of the land.

National Map-Drawing Battle

The ruling occurs during a countrywide contest over the remapping of electoral maps. Texas is an essential part in campaigns to transform the U.S. House map to secure a slim Republican control. Typically, boundary revision happens after a new decade's census. Yet the decision by Texas Republicans to proceed with a brazen mid-cycle redistricting earlier this year set off a chain reaction among other states.

GOP lawmakers in including North Carolina and Missouri have also approved redistricting plans that could add several more GOP-friendly seats. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, have countered with new maps in including California and Virginia, which could offset those projected gains.

Partisan Responses

Lone Star State top lawyer praised the High Court's decision. In a statement, he said the order protected 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 stated.

In contrast, Democratic leaders decried the decision. The Court's approval of this extreme, racially gerrymandered Texas GOP map is profoundly disappointing, said the head of a major party election organization.

Another top House leader argued the court had yet again shredded its legitimacy by upholding a race-based 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.