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In a unattributed order, the highest judicial body cleared the way for Texas to implement a revised congressional map that is projected to include as many as five new Republican-leaning districts. The 6-3 decision, handed down on Thursday, upholds a petition by the state to set aside a federal judge's ruling that had invalidated the redistricting plan in November.

Justices' Rationale

The lower court erroneously placed itself into an active primary campaign, generating much confusion and upsetting the fine balance of power in elections, the order stated in justifying its ruling.

The district court had determined that Texas had likely sorted voters by their race – a practice known as unconstitutional racial sorting – when it passed the new maps. It had mandated the state to use the districts drawn after the 2020 census for the forthcoming election.

Sharp Dissent

With a forcefully written dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan took issue with the majority's ruling. She stated that it undermined the work of the district court, noting that its opinion was actually authored by a judge nominated by ex-President Donald Trump.

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

She continued, The majority's order ensures that Texas's new map, with all its increased political tilt, will govern next year's elections. And it guarantees that many Texas residents, unjustly, will be sorted in electoral districts due to their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced year in and year out, is a breach of the law of the land.

National Map-Drawing Fight

This decision comes amid a countrywide contest over the remapping of electoral maps. Texas is an essential part in efforts to alter the U.S. House map to bolster a fragile Republican control. Ordinarily, redistricting happens after a ten-year survey. Yet the action by Texas Republicans to proceed with a brazen off-cycle redistricting earlier this year triggered a series of events among other states.

GOP lawmakers in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also passed redistricting plans that could add a number of additional GOP-friendly seats. The opposition, meanwhile, have pushed back with revised boundaries in states like California and Virginia, which are intended to balance those potential gains.

Partisan Responses

Lone Star State attorney general praised the High Court's decision. In a release, he said the order protected Texas's prerogative to draw a map that ensures representation aligned with his party. Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state, he stated.

On the other hand, Democratic officials 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 election organization.

Another senior House leader stated the court had once again damaged its legitimacy by rubber-stamping a racially gerrymandered 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 added.