Supreme Court Stays Texas Redistricting Ruling for 2026

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower federal court's ruling that Texas's newly drawn congressional map likely discriminates against Black and Hispanic voters, allowing the state to proceed with the Republican-favored plan for the 2026 midterm elections while the justices review the case.

Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency appeals from Texas, issued the administrative stay shortly after the state filed an urgent petition. The order requires challengers to respond by Monday afternoon, giving the full court time to decide whether the map can remain in effect during ongoing litigation. A three-judge panel in El Paso had ruled 2-1 earlier in the week that civil rights groups representing minority voters were likely to succeed in their claims under the Voting Rights Act and constitutional protections against racial gerrymandering. The panel found the map, enacted by the Republican-controlled legislature this summer, diluted the voting power of Black and Hispanic communities in several districts.

Texas officials argued that the lower court's injunction, issued amid the open candidate filing period for the March 2026 primaries, would cause significant...