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Through a per curiam ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed Texas to use a newly configured congressional boundary scheme that may create up to five additional Republican-leaning districts. The six-to-three ruling, issued on Thursday, grants a petition by the state to overturn a federal judge's ruling that had struck down the new map in November.

Justices' Explanation

The lower court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing considerable confusion and disturbing the fine balance of power in elections, the order stated in detailing its action.

That lower court had previously found that Texas had probably grouped voters according to their race – a act known as illegal race-based districting – when it adopted the redistricting plan. It had mandated the state to use the maps established after the most recent national count for the forthcoming election.

Stinging Dissent

In a strongly worded dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan criticized the court's ruling. She stated that it disrespected the work of the lower court, pointing out that its ruling was actually authored by a judge selected by ex-President Donald Trump.

Our position is above the district court, but our capability is not greater for resolving such fact-driven issues, Kagan wrote in a dissent joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She continued, The majority's order ensures that Texas's redistricting plan, with all its increased favoritism, will govern next year's elections. And it ensures that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be sorted in electoral districts due to their race. And that result, as this court has stated repeatedly, is a violation of the constitution.

Countrywide Map-Drawing Battle

The court's action comes amid a national contest over the redrawing of electoral maps. Texas is a crucial component in efforts to reshape the U.S. House map to bolster a slim Republican control. Usually, boundary revision occurs after a new decade's census. Yet the action by Texas Republicans to initiate a brazen off-cycle redistricting earlier in the summer triggered a chain reaction among other states.

GOP lawmakers in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also passed redistricting plans that might create several additional GOP-friendly seats. The opposition, meanwhile, have responded with their own plans in states like California and Virginia, which could offset those potential gains.

Political Reactions

Lone Star State attorney general hailed the supreme court ruling. In a statement, he said the order defended Texas's prerogative to draw a map that secures representation aligned with his party. Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state, he added.

In contrast, opposition party leaders lamented the decision. It is deeply disheartening that the Court has endorsed this severely racially gerrymandered plan from Texas Republicans, said the chair of a major Democratic election organization.

A senior House leader said the court had yet again shredded its standing by rubber-stamping a racially gerrymandered 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.