Supreme Court Backs GOP-Favored Texas Redistricting Map/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ The U.S. Supreme Court has approved Texas’s contested congressional redistricting plan favoring Republicans for the 2026 elections. The plan, promoted by Donald Trump, was previously blocked due to concerns over racial gerrymandering. The court’s decision allows Texas to proceed with primaries under the new map, pending a final ruling.
Texas Redistricting Map Approval: Quick Looks
- Supreme Court allows GOP-backed Texas congressional map for 2026 elections
- Decision overrules lower court finding of likely racial gerrymandering
- Conservative justices sided with Texas; liberal justices dissented
- Map pushed by Donald Trump adds five GOP-leaning seats
- Dissent warns many voters placed by race in districts
- Ongoing legal battle ties into nationwide redistricting disputes
- Texas AG and Governor call the ruling a conservative win
- Critics argue the map weakens minority voting power
- New map eliminates several multiracial coalition districts
- Case contributes to broader debates on Voting Rights Act limits
Deep Look
Supreme Court Greenlights GOP-Favored Redistricting Map in Texas for 2026
In a significant move with national implications, the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed Texas to proceed with its controversial congressional redistricting plan favoring Republicans for the 2026 election cycle. This decision arrives despite a lower court ruling that found the map likely violated the Constitution by diluting minority voting strength.
On Thursday, a divided Supreme Court sided with Texas Republicans and President Donald Trump’s agenda, granting an emergency request to allow the state to conduct its upcoming elections under the newly drawn district lines. The court’s unsigned order halts the enforcement of a previous 2-1 federal court ruling that had blocked the map on grounds of racial gerrymandering.
The conservative majority indicated skepticism toward the lower court’s findings, stating that the Texas legislature had “avowedly partisan goals,” downplaying allegations that race improperly influenced the district design. This interim ruling remains in effect until the high court renders a final decision on the matter.
Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the three dissenting liberal justices, strongly criticized the intervention.
She warned that allowing the map to be used “ensures that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race,” calling the result a constitutional violation.
Legal scholars like UCLA’s Richard Hasen observed that the decision sends a broader message to the judiciary, suggesting the Supreme Court will not support lower courts’ attempts to challenge politically motivated redistricting—even when racial discrimination is suspected.
“This is a green light for there to be even more re-redistricting,” Hasen commented.
The current dispute stems from a map drawn in 2025, driven largely by Trump’s efforts to secure a lasting Republican advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives. Texas was the first to respond, redrawing lines to provide Republicans with five additional seats. North Carolina and Missouri soon followed, while California Democrats moved in the opposite direction, adopting a plan expected to add five Democratic seats.
Litigation surrounding these new maps is ongoing. California and Missouri maps face legal challenges, while North Carolina’s has been permitted for use in the upcoming cycle. The Supreme Court’s handling of the Texas case may influence the outcomes of similar disputes nationwide.
In its appeal, the Texas government defended its actions as purely political, not racial. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised the ruling, describing the map as “the Big Beautiful Map” and claiming it reflects Texas’s conservative values. “This map is a massive win for Texas and every conservative who is tired of watching the left try to upend the political system with bogus lawsuits,” Paxton said.
Governor Greg Abbott echoed this sentiment, declaring, “We won! Texas is officially — and legally — more red.”
On the other side, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin condemned the ruling. “Once again, the Supreme Court gave Trump exactly what he wanted: a rigged map to help Republicans avoid accountability,” he said in a statement.
At the heart of the dispute is whether the new map unlawfully reduces minority voting power. A panel of judges, including U.S. District Judges Jeffrey Brown and David Guaderrama, concluded that the redistricting likely violated constitutional protections by diluting the influence of Black and Latino voters. Brown, a Trump appointee, and Guaderrama, appointed by President Obama, agreed that race played more than a minimal role in redrawing districts.
Despite their findings, Judge Jerry Smith—an appellate judge and Reagan appointee—offered a scathing dissent. He accused Judge Brown of “pernicious judicial misbehavior” and mocked the ruling as fiction, even referencing liberal figures like George Soros and Governor Gavin Newsom as beneficiaries of the majority opinion. Smith claimed the decision was a loss for both Texans and the legal system.
The U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, also celebrated the Supreme Court’s action, asserting that states have the right to redraw maps based on political factors, not racial quotas. She stated, “Federal courts have no right to interfere with a State’s decision to redraw legislative maps for partisan reasons.”
Data on the new map reveals a significant shift. It eliminates five of Texas’s nine multiracial “coalition” districts, where minority groups collectively formed a majority. The number of districts with majority-minority populations has dropped from 16 to 14. However, Texas Republicans argue that the changes increase minority representation by creating a new Hispanic-majority district and establishing two majority-Black districts where previously there were none.
Critics argue that these adjustments are superficial. They point out that slim majority margins in minority districts still allow white voters—who typically turn out in higher numbers—to control outcomes, thereby undermining the influence of communities of color.
This case also coincides with another key redistricting case from Louisiana under review by the Supreme Court, which could further erode race-based district protections under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
As the 2026 primaries approach, the Texas ruling underscores how redistricting continues to reshape the political landscape, reinforcing partisan divisions and prompting ongoing legal challenges over the limits of fair representation.
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