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In a unsigned decision, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Texas to employ a revised congressional district plan that may create several five new GOP-friendly districts. The six-to-three order, handed down on Thursday, upholds a appeal by the state to lift a federal judge's injunction that had invalidated the new map in November.

Court's Reasoning

The lower court wrongly interjected itself into an active primary campaign, causing significant confusion and upsetting the fine balance of power in elections, the justices wrote in justifying its ruling.

The federal court had earlier ruled that Texas had probably grouped voters by their race – a practice known as racial gerrymandering – when it enacted the redistricting plan. It had instructed the state to use the districts created after the 2020 census for the next year's election.

Strong Dissenting Opinion

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

We are a higher court than the district court, but we are not a better one when it comes to making such a fact-based decision, Kagan wrote in a opinion co-signed by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Kagan added, The majority's order solidifies that Texas's new map, with all its boosted political tilt, will govern next year's elections. And it guarantees that many Texas residents, for no good reason, will be placed in electoral districts due to their race. And that result, as this court has declared year in and year out, is a breach of the constitution.

Countrywide Map-Drawing Battle

This decision comes amid a countrywide battle over the redistricting of electoral maps. Texas is a key piece in efforts to reshape the U.S. House map to bolster a fragile Republican control. Usually, boundary revision occurs after a ten-year survey. Yet the move by Texas Republicans to initiate a bold off-cycle redistricting earlier in the summer sparked a series of events among other states.

Republicans in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also passed redistricting plans that are estimated to yield several additional Republican-leaning seats. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, have responded with their own plans in including California and Virginia, which are intended to balance those projected gains.

Political Responses

The Texas attorney general hailed the supreme court ruling. In a comment, he said the order defended Texas's prerogative to draw a map that secures electoral outcomes aligned with the GOP. Our state is leading the charge to reclaim the nation, one district and one state at a time, he added.

In contrast, opposition party leaders criticized the decision. It's incredibly disappointing that the Court has rubber stamped a map enacted by Texas Republicans which, simply put, is an extreme, racially gerrymandered map, said the head of a major Democratic campaign committee.

A senior Democratic figure stated the court had another time eroded its standing by upholding 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 stated.