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Through a unattributed decision, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Texas to employ a revised congressional district plan that could add several five additional conservative-tilting districts. The six-to-three order, handed down on Thursday, upholds a petition by the state to overturn a federal judge's injunction that had rejected the boundaries in November.

Justices' Explanation

The district court erroneously placed itself into an ongoing primary campaign, causing considerable confusion and upsetting the delicate equilibrium in elections, the justices wrote in justifying its decision.

That lower court had determined that Texas had likely grouped voters by their race – a method known as unconstitutional racial sorting – when it adopted the new maps. It had mandated the state to employ the boundaries created after the 2020 census for the next year's election.

Stinging Dissent

With a forcefully written objection, Justice Elena Kagan objected to the court's ruling. She argued that it undermined the work of the district court, pointing out that its ruling was crafted by a judge nominated by former President Donald Trump.

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

Kagan added, This court's stay ensures that Texas's new map, with all its enhanced favoritism, will govern next year's elections. And it ensures that many Texas voters, unjustly, will be sorted in electoral districts based on their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced consistently, is a violation of the law of the land.

Countrywide Map-Drawing Battle

The ruling occurs during a countrywide fight over the redrawing of electoral maps. Texas is a key piece in efforts to reshape the U.S. House map to bolster a narrow Republican majority. Typically, map-drawing occurs after a ten-year survey. Yet the decision by Texas Republicans to move ahead with a aggressive off-cycle redistricting earlier in the summer triggered a series of events among other states.

Conservative legislators in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also passed redistricting plans that are estimated to yield several more Republican-leaning seats. The opposition, meanwhile, have pushed back with new maps in states like California and Virginia, which might neutralize those projected gains.

Partisan Responses

Lone Star State top lawyer hailed the High Court's decision. In a release, he said the order defended Texas's fundamental right to draw a map that ensures electoral outcomes supportive of Republicans. Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state, he remarked.

Conversely, opposition party leaders decried the outcome. It is deeply disheartening that the Court has endorsed this severely racially gerrymandered plan from Texas Republicans, said the chair of a major party election organization.

A senior House figure argued the court had yet again eroded its credibility by approving a race-based map. Tonight's ruling by far-right justices on the supreme court is further proof that the extremists will do anything to rig the midterm elections. The gerrymandered Texas congressional map is a partisan and racially discriminatory power grab designed to subvert the will of the voters – particularly in Black and Latino communities, he added.