Washington– the US Supreme Court On Friday, A. was temporarily banned lower court The ruling found that Texas’ 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by President Donald Trump likely discriminated on the basis of race.
The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito will remain in effect for at least the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map favored by Republicans to be used in the midterm elections.
The court’s conservative majority blocked similar rulings by a lower court because it was too close to the election.
The order came about an hour after the state asked the Supreme Court to intervene to avoid confusion as the March congressional primary approaches. The justices have blocked previous decisions by lower courts in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, which came several months before the election.
The order was signed by Alito because he is the judge who handles emergency appeals from Texas.
Texas redrew its congressional map in the summer as part of Trump’s efforts to maintain a slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives in next year’s elections, setting off a nationwide redistricting battle. The new redistricting map was designed to give Republicans five additional House seats, but a panel of federal judges in El Paso ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that civil rights groups that challenged the map on behalf of Black and Latino voters would likely win their case.
If that ruling ultimately stands, Texas may have to hold an election next year using the map drawn by the GOP-controlled Legislature in 2021 based on the 2020 census.
Texas was the first state to respond to Trump’s demands An expanding national battle On redistricting. Republicans drew the new state map to give the Republican Party five additional seats Missouri and North Carolina Followed by new maps that add an additional Republican seat to each. To confront these movements California voters approved A ballot initiative to give Democrats five additional seats there.
The redrawn maps face challenges in courts in California, Missouri and North Carolina.
The Supreme Court is separately considering a case from Louisiana that could increase restrictions Race-based areas Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It’s not entirely clear how the current round of redistricting will be affected by the outcome in the Louisiana case.