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In a unsigned ruling, the nation's top court has allowed Texas to employ a revised congressional boundary scheme that may create several five additional GOP-friendly districts. The 6-3 ruling, handed down on Thursday, grants a petition by the state to lift a lower court's block that had invalidated the boundaries in November.

Court's Explanation

The lower court improperly inserted itself into an ongoing primary campaign, causing considerable confusion and upsetting the fine balance of power in elections, the order stated in explaining its decision.

The district court had previously found that Texas had likely sorted voters by their race – a method known as illegal race-based districting – when it enacted the new maps. It had mandated the state to revert to the districts created after the last decennial survey for the upcoming election.

Sharp Opposition

With a forcefully written dissent, Justice Elena Kagan took issue with the court's action. She argued that it undermined the work of the district court, noting that its opinion was crafted by a judge selected by former 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 argued in a dissent joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She continued, The majority's order solidifies that Texas's new map, with all its increased political tilt, will govern next year's elections. And it means that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be grouped in electoral districts due to their race. And that result, as this court has stated repeatedly, is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

National Map-Drawing Battle

This decision occurs during a national battle over the redistricting of electoral maps. Texas is a key piece in campaigns to alter the U.S. House map to secure a narrow Republican hold. Typically, redistricting happens after a decennial population count. Yet the move by Texas Republicans to initiate a brazen mid-cycle redistricting earlier this year set off a wave among other states.

GOP lawmakers in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also passed new maps that are estimated to yield a number of more conservative seats. Democrats, in response, have countered with revised boundaries in states like California and Virginia, which could offset those potential gains.

Partisan Reactions

Lone Star State AG welcomed the High Court's decision. In a statement, he said the order upheld Texas's fundamental right to draw a map that guarantees representation favorable to his party. We are setting the precedent for restoring our country, through each electoral district and individual state, he stated.

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

A senior Democratic figure stated the court had yet again damaged its standing 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 stated.