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Via an per curiam decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed Texas to use a newly configured congressional map that could add several five additional Republican-leaning districts. The six-to-three decision, issued on Thursday, approves a request by the state to set aside a district court's ruling that had rejected the boundaries in November.

Justices' Reasoning

The district court wrongly interjected itself into an active primary campaign, generating considerable confusion and upsetting the delicate federal-state balance in elections, the supreme court said in detailing its decision.

The federal court had previously found that Texas had probably classified voters by their race – a method known as unconstitutional racial sorting – when it passed the redistricting plan. It had instructed the state to employ the boundaries established after the 2020 census for the forthcoming election.

Strong Dissenting Opinion

Through a strongly worded dissent, Justice Elena Kagan objected to the majority's decision. She contended that it disrespected the work of the district court, noting that its decision was crafted 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 stated in a dissent supported by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She continued, This court's stay ensures that Texas's new map, with all its increased partisan advantage, will govern next year's elections. And it ensures that many Texas voters, for no good reason, will be grouped in electoral districts based on their race. And that result, as this court has stated repeatedly, is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

National Redistricting Battle

The ruling comes amid a nationwide contest over the redrawing of electoral maps. Texas is a crucial component in efforts to alter the U.S. House map to bolster a narrow Republican hold. Usually, boundary revision occurs after a new decade's census. Yet the move by Texas Republicans to move ahead with a brazen mid-cycle redistricting earlier this year set off a chain reaction among other states.

GOP lawmakers in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also passed new maps that might create a number of more Republican-leaning seats. The opposition, meanwhile, have responded with revised boundaries in including California and Virginia, which are intended to balance those potential gains.

Partisan Reactions

The Texas AG welcomed the supreme court ruling. In a release, he said the order defended Texas's prerogative to draw a map that secures representation supportive of Republicans. Our state is leading the charge to reclaim the nation, one district and one state at a time, he remarked.

On the other hand, opposition party leaders decried 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 party election organization.

A top Democratic figure said the court had another time damaged its legitimacy by approving a discriminatory map. This decision from the Court's far-right bloc proves extremists are willing to rig elections. The Texas map is a discriminatory power grab targeting Black and Latino voters, he added.