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In a per curiam decision, the nation's top court permitted Texas to use a redrawn congressional map that is projected to include as many as five new Republican-leaning districts. The six-to-three order, issued on Thursday, approves a request by the state to lift a lower court's ruling that had invalidated the new map in November.

Justices' Explanation

The federal judge erroneously placed itself into an ongoing primary campaign, causing considerable confusion and disturbing the delicate federal-state balance in elections, the supreme court said in detailing its action.

The district court had previously found that Texas had likely sorted voters according to their race – a act known as illegal race-based districting – when it adopted the redistricting plan. It had instructed the state to revert to the districts created after the last decennial survey for the next year's election.

Sharp Opposition

With a forcefully written objection, Justice Elena Kagan objected to the court's action. She argued that it undermined the work of the district court, pointing out that its ruling was written by a judge appointed 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 supported by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She continued, Today's ruling guarantees that Texas's new map, with all its boosted favoritism, will dictate next year's elections. And it ensures that many Texas voters, without justification, will be sorted in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced repeatedly, is a breach of the constitution.

Countrywide Map-Drawing Battle

The ruling is part of a national battle over the remapping of electoral maps. Texas is an essential part in efforts to transform the U.S. House map to secure a fragile Republican hold. Usually, map-drawing occurs after a ten-year survey. Yet the move by Texas Republicans to proceed with a brazen off-cycle redistricting earlier this year triggered a wave among other states.

Republicans in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also passed redistricting plans that could add a number of additional Republican-leaning seats. The opposition, in response, have countered with their own plans in states like California and Virginia, which are intended to balance those potential gains.

Political Responses

The Texas AG hailed the supreme court ruling. In a comment, he said the order upheld Texas's basic authority to draw a map that ensures representation favorable to the GOP. Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state, he stated.

Conversely, Democratic leaders lamented the ruling. The Court's approval of this extreme, racially gerrymandered Texas GOP map is profoundly disappointing, said the chair of a major party campaign committee.

Another senior House figure said the court had another time shredded its legitimacy by upholding 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 concluded.