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Via an unattributed decision, the U.S. Supreme Court permitted Texas to use a revised congressional boundary scheme that is projected to include as many as five additional conservative-tilting districts. The six-to-three ruling, released on Thursday, upholds a request by the state to overturn a lower court's block that had invalidated the redistricting plan in November.

Justices' Explanation

The lower court wrongly interjected itself into an ongoing primary campaign, causing significant confusion and disturbing the delicate balance of power in elections, the supreme court said in explaining its ruling.

The district court had determined that Texas had probably sorted voters by their race – a practice known as unconstitutional racial sorting – when it passed the boundaries. It had instructed the state to revert to the districts established after the last decennial survey for the next year's election.

Sharp Dissenting Opinion

In a strongly worded objection, Justice Elena Kagan objected to the court's ruling. She contended that it undermined the work of the district court, observing that its ruling was crafted by a judge nominated by former President Donald Trump.

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

Kagan added, This court's stay guarantees that Texas's new map, with all its increased partisan advantage, will dictate next year's elections. And it guarantees that many Texas citizens, without justification, will be grouped in electoral districts based on their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced repeatedly, is a breach of the law of the land.

Countrywide Map-Drawing Struggle

The ruling comes amid a countrywide contest over the redrawing of electoral maps. Texas is an essential part in efforts to alter the U.S. House map to bolster a narrow Republican majority. Typically, redistricting occurs after a decennial population count. Yet the decision by Texas Republicans to proceed with a bold mid-cycle redistricting earlier in the summer sparked a chain reaction among other states.

Republicans in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also approved new maps that could add several additional Republican-leaning seats. The opposition, in response, have responded with new maps in including California and Virginia, which are intended to balance those potential gains.

Partisan Reactions

The Texas attorney general praised the High Court's decision. In a statement, he said the order upheld Texas's prerogative to draw a map that ensures representation aligned with Republicans. Our state is leading the charge to reclaim the nation, one district and one state at a time, he remarked.

In contrast, Democratic representatives criticized the decision. It is deeply disheartening that the Court has endorsed this severely racially gerrymandered plan from Texas Republicans, said the head of a major Democratic campaign committee.

A leading Democratic leader said the court had another time shredded its credibility by rubber-stamping 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.