Overview
- The 6–3 unsigned order lets Texas use its 2025 mid‑decade map for now, with Justice Samuel Alito concurring and Justice Elena Kagan dissenting with Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
- A three‑judge panel had found the map likely an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and directed Texas to revert to its 2021 lines, citing a DOJ letter that the lower court said spurred race‑based changes.
- Texas argues the redistricting was driven by partisan goals, and the Supreme Court faulted the lower court for not presuming legislative good faith and for intervening close to primary deadlines.
- The map is projected in reporting to put up to five additional U.S. House seats within Republican reach in 2026, a shift that could help preserve the party’s narrow majority.
- The ruling intensifies a national redistricting fight as California advances a counter‑map projected to aid Democrats, courts weigh new maps in states like Missouri and North Carolina, and a pending Louisiana case could further reshape voting‑rights standards.