Supreme Court lets Texas use gerrymandered U.S. House map : NPR

The Supreme Court has given approval for Texas to implement its new congressional map, potentially aiding Republicans in gaining five additional U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm election.

The ruling issued on Thursday enhances the GOP’s chances of maintaining a narrow majority in the House of Representatives amidst a heated gerrymandering battle initiated by President Trump, who has been advocating for Texas and other Republican-led states to revise their congressional districts to favor Republicans.

The Supreme Court’s decision follows Texas’ urgent plea for the justices to halt a lower court’s ruling that had blocked the state’s recently altered map.

Following a nine-day hearing in October, the panel determined that challengers of the new map are likely to demonstrate in a trial that the map violates the Constitution by discriminating against voters based on race.

In the majority opinion, written by a Trump-appointed judge, the panel referenced a letter from the Department of Justice and multiple public statements by key Republican state lawmakers that suggested the manipulation of racial demographics within voting districts to eliminate existing districts where Black and Latino voters form the majority. The panel ordered Texas to continue using the congressional districts drawn by the state’s GOP-controlled legislature in 2021 for the upcoming midterms.

However, in Texas’ appeal to the Supreme Court, the state argued that race was not the lawmakers’ driving force, but rather their focus was on creating new districts more likely to elect Republicans.

In November, after the panel blocked the new map, Justice Samuel Alito permitted Texas to temporarily reinstate it while the Supreme Court assessed the state’s emergency request.

The mid-decade redistricting effort undertaken by Texas Republicans in August prompted a reaction from Democratic leaders in California, where voters approved a new congressional map in a special election that could potentially help Democrats secure five additional House seats. A court hearing for a legal challenge against that map is scheduled for December 15.

The redistricting situation in other states remains unresolved. Lawsuits are challenging new gerrymanders in states like Missouri, where a contested referendum is also ongoing. States such as Florida, Indiana, and Virginia may also pursue new districts before the midterms.

Recently, a federal court ruled in favor of holding North Carolina’s midterm election under a newly redrawn map that could potentially give Republicans an extra seat.

Depending on the outcome and timing of a voting rights case regarding Louisiana’s congressional map, another round of congressional redistricting could be on the horizon. Following a rare rehearing by the Supreme Court in October, some states are awaiting a potential early ruling that might enable Republican-led states to draw more GOP-friendly districts in time for the 2026 midterms.

Edited by Benjamin Swasey