Supreme Court Reinstates Texas Redistricting Map

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily reinstated Texas's newly redrawn congressional map, allowing the state to use the Republican-favorable boundaries for the 2026 midterm elections despite a lower federal court's finding of racial gerrymandering. The 6-3 decision, issued without oral arguments on the court's emergency docket, came in response to an urgent appeal from Texas officials as candidate filing deadlines approached in early December.

The map, enacted in August after urging from President Donald Trump, redraws Texas's 38 congressional districts to create five additional seats likely to favor Republicans, expanding their current 25-13 majority to as many as 30-8. Trump had pressed the state over the summer to adjust boundaries following the 2020 census, aiming to bolster the GOP's narrow 220-213 House majority ahead of the midterms. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the legislation, which followed an initial reluctance by state lawmakers to pursue mid-decade redistricting.

A three-judge federal panel in Galveston had blocked the map last month, ruling 2-1 that it violated the Constitution by diluting the voting power of Black and Latino communities in violation...