The Supreme Court allows Texas to use a GOP-favored map for upcoming elections, despite claims of racial discrimination, intensifying the U.S. redistricting battle.
WASHINGTON D.C., DC — The Supreme Court on Thursday came to the rescue of Texas Republicans, allowing next year’s elections to be held under the state’s congressional redistricting plan favorable to the GOP and pushed by President Donald Trump despite a lower-court ruling that the map likely discriminates on the basis of race.
The justices acted on an emergency request from Texas for quick action because qualifying in the new districts already has begun, with primary elections in March.
The Supreme Court’s order puts the 2-1 ruling blocking the map on hold at least until after the high court issues a final decision in the case. Justice Samuel Alito had previously temporarily blocked the order while the full court considered the Texas appeal.
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 Texas congressional map enacted last summer at Trump’s urging was engineered to give Republicans five additional House seats.
The effort to preserve a slim Republican majority in the House in next year’s elections touched off a nationwide redistricting battle.
Reaction
Attorney General Ken Paxton
In a statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said his office successfully backed the state’s Republican-led congressional redistricting plan in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Paxton appealed after a lower court blocked the use of the current congressional map. The Supreme Court has now granted his request for an emergency stay, allowing the map approved in August to remain in place for the 2026 midterm elections and avoiding further disruption to the state’s election process
In the statement, Paxton said, “In the face of Democrats’ attempt to abuse the judicial system to steal the U.S. House, I have defended Texas’s fundamental right to draw a map that ensures we are represented by Republicans. The Big Beautiful Map will be in effect for 2026,” Paxton said in the statement. “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 House Democratic Leaders
House Minority Leader Rep. Gene Wu
“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.
“I’m angry about this ruling. Every Texan who testified against these maps should be angry. Every community that fought for generations to build political power and watched Republicans gerrymander it away should be angry. But anger without action is just noise, and Democrats are taking action to fight back: California passed Prop 50 and added five Democratic seats to offset Texas. Democrats are organized and fighting back in Illinois, New York, Virginia, and more. A nationwide movement is being built that says if Republicans want to play this game, Democrats will play it better.
“The Governor and the White House thought they could deliver Republicans a permanent majority by silencing Black and Brown voters. They will fail. Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a legal defeat, but it doesn’t change the fact that we won the political battle, and we’re going to keep fighting and winning until fair representation is restored in every state.”
House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Rep. Mihaela Plesa
“The Supreme Court sided with political power over voting rights today and that should alarm every Texan, no matter your party.
“My parents fled a communist country because they believed America was different, that courts here would stand up to corruption and protect the people. When a conservative-leaning Supreme Court allows these gerrymandered maps to stand, even after everything we’ve learned, it shakes that belief. But disappointment in the Court is not the same thing as surrender.
“Here are the facts, and they are damning. A three-judge federal panel—including a judge appointed by Donald Trump—found that Texas ‘racially gerrymandered’ the 2025 congressional map and that this was ‘much more than just politics,’ backed by substantial evidence. The Trump Justice Department sent a letter that effectively imposed a racial target and gave the court a blueprint to unravel the state’s strategy, exposing how multi-racial districts were dismantled and converted into whiter, safer Republican seats. And Governor Abbott went on national television and told Jake Tapper that Texas was redrawing these districts ‘because of that court decision,’ explicitly tying this mid-decade redistricting to changes in voting-rights law instead of the needs of Texas voters.
“In other words: a Trump-appointed judge, the Trump DOJ’s own letter, and Governor Abbott’s own words all pointed to racial gerrymandering and a deliberate attempt to game the system. Yet today, the highest court in the land refused to stop it. That is a legal outcome, not a moral vindication. It does not erase the record. It does not make these maps fair. It does not change the reality that Black, Latino, Asian, and multiracial communities in Texas are being sliced apart to preserve political power.
“As the Representative for one of the most competitive districts in Texas, I know what’s at stake. HD 70 and districts like it will be battlegrounds where millions of dollars are spent to drown out the voices of everyday Texans. We cannot afford cynicism. We answer this decision the only way a democracy can: by organizing, voting, running, and refusing to be pushed out of our own future.
“Democracy is not guaranteed; it must be protected and renewed—especially when the courts refuse to do their full share. That work just got harder, but Texas House Democrats will not back down until every Texan’s vote is equal and every community has a fair chance to choose its own representation.”
House Redistricting Committee Vice Chair Rep. Jon Rosenthal
“This is a shameful result and a setback, but the fight is not over. The people of Texas will not be silenced. Texas Democrats remain committed to fighting for Texans, no matter the tribulations.”
Mexican American Legislative Caucus Chair Rep. Ramón Romero Jr.
“This decision shuts out millions of Texans from the most powerful seats in Congress. There is no question this map was drawn to take power away from our communities. The Supreme Court did not erase that truth; it allowed it to shape our next election. Latino and Black voters are being punished for how we vote, plain and simple.
“And make no mistake — this is bigger than Texas. The highest court in the country just signaled that a president can redraw political power in the middle of the decade and target any community in America, even when a federal court has already found intentional discrimination. The Court made its decision for 2026, but this case is far from over. We will continue this fight in the courts, in the Capitol, and in every community we represent.”
Texas Legislative Black Caucus Chair Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins
“While we are disappointed in the Court’s decision to reinstate the 2025 maps, the Texas Legislative Black Caucus will not relent in the fight to protect fair representation for all Texans. This ruling underscores the urgent need for continued vigilance, organizing, and advocacy to confront racial gerrymandering in every form. We remain steadfast in defending the voting rights and political power of Black communities across this state.”
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