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Via an per curiam ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Texas to employ a revised congressional map that could add as many as five new conservative-tilting districts. The six-to-three decision, released on Thursday, grants a appeal by the state to lift a district court's block that had invalidated the redistricting plan in November.

Court's Rationale

The lower court improperly inserted itself into an ongoing primary campaign, creating significant confusion and upsetting the fine balance of power in elections, the justices wrote in explaining its ruling.

The district court had determined that Texas had probably sorted voters based on their race – a act known as unconstitutional racial sorting – when it passed the redistricting plan. It had instructed the state to use the boundaries created after the 2020 census for the forthcoming election.

Strong Opposition

In a sharply worded objection, Justice Elena Kagan took issue with the court's ruling. She argued that it disrespected the work of the district court, pointing out that its ruling was crafted by a judge appointed 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 co-signed by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Kagan added, Today's ruling guarantees that Texas's redistricting plan, with all its enhanced partisan advantage, will govern next year's elections. And it guarantees that many Texas citizens, without justification, will be sorted in electoral districts due to their race. And that result, as this court has declared consistently, is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Countrywide Redistricting Fight

The court's action is part of a national fight over the redrawing of electoral maps. Texas is a crucial component in campaigns to alter the U.S. House map to protect a slim Republican hold. Ordinarily, redistricting occurs after a new decade's census. Yet the action by Texas Republicans to initiate a aggressive off-cycle redistricting earlier in the summer set off a chain reaction among other states.

Conservative legislators in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also passed redistricting plans that could add a number of more conservative seats. Democrats, for their part, have responded with new maps in states like California and Virginia, which could offset those potential gains.

Political Responses

The Texas AG welcomed the High Court's decision. In a release, 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, opposition party leaders criticized the outcome. The Court's approval of this extreme, racially gerrymandered Texas GOP map is profoundly disappointing, said the chair of a major party campaign committee.

A leading Democratic leader stated the court had once again eroded its credibility by approving 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.