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In a unsigned order, the nation's top court permitted Texas to implement a revised congressional boundary scheme that could add up to five new conservative-tilting districts. The 6-3 decision, released on Thursday, upholds a request by the state to lift a federal judge's ruling that had struck down the redistricting plan in November.

Court's Rationale

The lower court wrongly interjected itself into an active primary campaign, causing considerable confusion and disrupting the delicate balance of power in elections, the supreme court said in justifying its decision.

The federal court had previously found that Texas had likely classified voters according to their race – a practice known as unconstitutional racial sorting – when it adopted the redistricting plan. It had mandated the state to use the maps established after the 2020 census for the upcoming election.

Strong Dissenting Opinion

Through a sharply worded dissent, Justice Elena Kagan objected to the court's decision. She contended that it disregarded the work of the lower court, pointing out that its opinion was crafted by a judge appointed by former 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 co-signed by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She continued, This court's stay ensures that Texas's redistricting plan, with all its enhanced political tilt, will govern next year's elections. And it ensures that many Texas residents, without justification, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this court has declared repeatedly, is a violation of the constitution.

Countrywide Redistricting Fight

This decision comes amid a countrywide battle over the remapping of electoral maps. Texas is a crucial component in efforts to transform the U.S. House map to secure a narrow Republican majority. Typically, boundary revision takes place after a new decade's census. Yet the action by Texas Republicans to move ahead with a brazen mid-cycle redistricting earlier this year sparked a series of events among other states.

Republicans in including North Carolina and Missouri have also enacted redistricting plans that could add several more Republican-leaning seats. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, have countered with revised boundaries in states like California and Virginia, which are intended to balance those projected gains.

Political Reactions

The Texas AG hailed the High Court's decision. In a statement, he said the order protected Texas's fundamental right to draw a map that secures representation aligned with the GOP. Our state is leading the charge to reclaim the nation, one district and one state at a time, he added.

On the other hand, Democratic representatives decried the outcome. 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 chair of a major Democratic campaign committee.

A senior Democratic leader argued the court had yet again eroded its credibility by upholding a race-based 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 added.