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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/22/supreme-court-texas-congressional-map
> Supreme court blocks order that found Texas congressional map was probably racially biased
The US supreme court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas’s 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by Donald Trump probably discriminated on the basis of race.
The order, signed by Justice Samuel Alito, will remain in place at least for the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map, which is favorable to Republicans, to be used in the midterm elections.
The court’s conservative majority has blocked similar lower court rulings because they have come too close to elections.
The order came about an hour after the state called on the supreme court to intervene to avoid confusion as congressional primary elections approach in March. The justices have blocked past lower-court rulings in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, that came several months before elections.
The order was signed by Alito because he is the justice who handles emergency appeals from Texas.
Texas redrew its congressional map in the summer as part of Trump’s efforts to preserve a slim Republican majority in the House in next year’s elections, touching off a nationwide redistricting battle. The new redistricting map was engineered to give Republicans five additional House seats, but a panel of federal judges in El Paso ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that the civil rights groups that challenged the map on behalf of Black and Hispanic voters were likely to win their case.
If that ruling eventually holds, Texas could be forced to hold elections next year using the map drawn by the GOP-controlled legislature in 2021 based on the 2020 census.
> Supreme court blocks order that found Texas congressional map was probably racially biased
The US supreme court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas’s 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by Donald Trump probably discriminated on the basis of race.
The order, signed by Justice Samuel Alito, will remain in place at least for the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map, which is favorable to Republicans, to be used in the midterm elections.
The court’s conservative majority has blocked similar lower court rulings because they have come too close to elections.
The order came about an hour after the state called on the supreme court to intervene to avoid confusion as congressional primary elections approach in March. The justices have blocked past lower-court rulings in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, that came several months before elections.
The order was signed by Alito because he is the justice who handles emergency appeals from Texas.
Texas redrew its congressional map in the summer as part of Trump’s efforts to preserve a slim Republican majority in the House in next year’s elections, touching off a nationwide redistricting battle. The new redistricting map was engineered to give Republicans five additional House seats, but a panel of federal judges in El Paso ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that the civil rights groups that challenged the map on behalf of Black and Hispanic voters were likely to win their case.
If that ruling eventually holds, Texas could be forced to hold elections next year using the map drawn by the GOP-controlled legislature in 2021 based on the 2020 census.
