SCOTUS temporarily blocks lower court ruling on Texas congressional maps
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday issued an order temporarily blocking a lower court’s ruling that Texas can’t use its recently redrawn congressional maps because they show evidence of racial gerrymandering. Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency appeals from Texas, signed the order shortly after the state asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday asked the nation’s highest court to keep the maps in place as the state appeals the lower court’s decision. He requested Supreme Court justices make a decision by Dec. 1 to “avoid further disruption,” as Texas’ filing deadline for candidates in the 2026 midterm elections is “rapidly approaching” on Dec. 8.
According to the Dallas Morning News, in the Supreme Court order, Alito asked justices to issue a ruling before 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24.
Texas redistricting
This summer, President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw the congressional maps so they could pick up more seats in the House of Representatives. Texas lawmakers ultimately approved a congressional map that gives Republicans five House seats, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed in August.
However, on Tuesday, a three-judge panel ruled that Texas can’t use the new map, and instead, must use one from 2021.
One of the judges, Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed by Trump, said the “public perception of this case is that it’s about politics.”
“To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map. But it was much more than just politics,” Brown said. “Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.”
Paxton maintained, though, that “Texas engaged in partisan redistricting solely to secure more Republican seats in Congress and thereby better represent our state and Texans.”
Since Texas passed its maps, other red states did the same, including North Carolina and Missouri. In response, California passed Proposition 50, a state redistricting measure that gave Democrats five additional favorable districts.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
