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Via an per curiam order, the nation's top court has allowed Texas to employ a newly configured congressional district plan that may create up to five new conservative-tilting districts. The six-to-three decision, handed down on Thursday, approves a request by the state to set aside a district court's injunction that had rejected the redistricting plan in November.

Justices' Rationale

The federal judge improperly inserted itself into an ongoing primary campaign, generating much confusion and disturbing the delicate federal-state balance in elections, the supreme court said in detailing its ruling.

The federal court had determined that Texas had probably grouped voters based on their race – a act known as illegal race-based districting – when it adopted the new maps. It had instructed the state to use the districts established after the 2020 census for the forthcoming election.

Stinging Dissenting Opinion

In a forcefully written dissent, Justice Elena Kagan took issue with the court's decision. She argued that it disregarded the work of the district court, observing that its decision was written 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 argued in a dissent co-signed by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She continued, This court's stay guarantees that Texas's new map, with all its boosted political tilt, will govern next year's elections. And it ensures that many Texas citizens, unjustly, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this court has stated consistently, is a breach of the U.S. Constitution.

Countrywide Map-Drawing Struggle

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

GOP lawmakers in including North Carolina and Missouri have also passed redistricting plans that are estimated to yield several additional GOP-friendly seats. Democratic lawmakers, for their part, have responded with their own plans in states like California and Virginia, which are intended to balance those potential gains.

Partisan Reactions

Lone Star State top lawyer praised the supreme court ruling. In a comment, he said the order upheld 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.

Conversely, Democratic representatives decried the decision. 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 Democratic figure argued the court had once again shredded its legitimacy by rubber-stamping a race-based map. Tonight's ruling by far-right justices on the supreme court is further proof that the extremists will do anything to rig the midterm elections. The gerrymandered Texas congressional map is a partisan and racially discriminatory power grab designed to subvert the will of the voters – particularly in Black and Latino communities, he stated.