State Capitol in Austin, Texas, June 1, 2021.
Eric Gay/AP
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Eric Gay/AP
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that Texas' 2026 redistricting plan proposed by President Trump is likely discriminatory 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 decides whether to allow the new Republican-friendly map to be used in the midterm elections.
The court's conservative majority blocked similar decisions from lower courts because they came too close to the election.
The order came about an hour after the state urged the Supreme Court to intervene to avoid confusion as congressional primary elections approach in March. The justices have blocked past lower court decisions in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, that were decided months before elections.
The order was signed by Alito because he is the Texas emergency appeals judge.
Texas redrew its congressional map over the summer as part of Trump's effort to maintain a slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives in next year's elections, kicking off a nationwide battle over redistricting. 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 Tuesday that civil rights groups that challenged the map on behalf of Black and Latino voters are likely to win their case.
If the ruling is ultimately implemented, Texas could be forced to hold elections next year using a map drawn by the GOP-controlled Legislature in 2021 based on the 2020 census.
Texas was the first state to comply with Trump's demands in the massive national redistricting battle. Republicans drew a new state map to give the GOP five additional seats, and Missouri and North Carolina followed suit with the new maps, adding one additional Republican seat each. To counter the moves, California voters approved a ballot initiative to give Democrats an additional five seats there.
The redrawn maps are facing lawsuits in California, Missouri and North Carolina.
The Supreme Court is separately considering a Louisiana case that could further limit districts by race under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It's not entirely clear how the outcome of the Louisiana case will affect the current round of redistricting.
