SCOTUS will allow Texas to use redrawn congressional map for 2026 election
Newly redrawn Texas congressional map
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court of the United States has decided to allow Texas to use their newly redrawn congressional map for the 2026 election.
The opinion, handed down Thursday evening, may allow the GOP to pick up five more seats in the upcoming election, strengthening a small majority in the House.
SCOTUS allows Texas to use new map
What we know:
The new opinion sides in favor of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in the case filed by the League of United Latin American Citizens, who claim the map is illegally gerrymandered on the grounds of racial discrimination.
The map will be allowed to proceed for the upcoming election, but the opinion does not stand as a final decision.
The favorable opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito, and included justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.
The dissenting opinion was written by Justice Elena Kagan, and included justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketani Brown Jackson.
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Texas redistricting: Supreme Court puts pause on ruling about new congressional map
The Supreme Court has decided to put a lower court ruling concerning the 2025 Texas congressional map on pause pending the state's appeal, per the Associated Press.
Supreme Court opinion
What they're saying:
The SCOTUS opinion chastised the lower court for attempting to block the new map.
"The District Court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and upsetting the delicate federal-state balance in elections," Alito wrote in the majority opinion.
The other side:
Dissenters in the nation's highest court expressed disdain for the rare mid-decade redraw.
"This Court’s stay guarantees that Texas’s new map, with all its enhanced partisan advantage, will govern next year’s elections for the House of Representatives. And this Court’s stay ensures that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race."
Texas leaders react
Democrat reactions:
Texas House of Representatives Minority Leader Rep. Gene Wu released a statement soon after the decision, which reads in part:
"The Supreme Court failed Texas voters today, and they failed American democracy. This is what the end of the Voting Rights Act looks like: courts that won't protect minority communities even when the evidence is staring them in the face."
Former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, who is running for the Democratic candidacy in the race for Sen. John Cornyn's seat, released the following statement on X, formerly Twitter:
"For years, Gov. Abbott and Donald Trump have tried to rig the rules and silence Texans to preserve their own power, all while John Cornyn and Ken Paxton went along with it. Today, the highest court in the land failed the American people — but this fight is far from over."
Republican reactions:
Abbott released the following statement:
"We won! Texas is officially—and legally—more red. The U.S. Supreme Court restored the redistricting maps passed by Texas that were based on constitutional principles and Supreme Court precedent. The new congressional districts better align our representation in Washington D.C. with the values of our state. This is a victory for Texas voters, for common sense, and for the U.S. Constitution."
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Under the topic of redistricting it reads: "Legislation that provides a revised congressional redistricting plan in light of constitutional concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice."
Texas AG Ken Paxton released a statement, which reads in part:
"Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state. This map reflects the political climate of our state and 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."
Texas congressional map controversy
The backstory:
Rumblings over Texas' new map began over the summer, when President Donald Trump first signaled he hoped to pick up five more Republican seats ahead of the 2026 election.
After two special sessions, the first stunted by a Democratic quorum break, the new map was passed. Lawsuits were almost immediately filed by several groups, who lobbed claims of racial bias and disenfranchisement.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom soon introduced Proposition 50, a Democratic version of the same strategy used in Texas, which passed on Nov. 4. The state hopes to balance out the effect of Texas' new map in 2026.
Last month, a federal court issued a preliminary injunction, which would have temporarily blocked the new map and forced Texas to use the one drawn in 2021.
Days later, the Supreme Court put a pause on that ruling, which stood as the most recent word on the matter from Nov. 21 until Thursday's opinion.
What's the deal with Texas' map?
Why you should care:
Congressional maps are required to be redrawn once per decade, according to the U.S. Constitution. Texas' was last redrawn in 2021, and wasn't set to be reshaped until 2031.
Mid-decade redrawing isn't unheard of, but it's highly unusual. The last time Texas used the strategy was in 2003, when Republican Rick Perry, the governor at the time, also wanted to benefit his party's standing in the House. Florida also pulled the move in 2015, slightly helping Democrats.
The GOP currently holds a slim majority in the House of Representatives, which Trump hopes to strengthen by changing the shape of congressional districts in some states, most notably Texas, to make some areas more likely to elect a Republican when they previously leaned to the left.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the Supreme Court of the United States.