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In a unattributed decision, the highest judicial body has allowed Texas to use a newly configured congressional map that is projected to include several five new conservative-tilting districts. The six-to-three ruling, issued on Thursday, grants a request by the state to set aside a federal judge's block that had struck down the redistricting plan in November.

Court's Explanation

The federal judge erroneously placed itself into an active primary campaign, generating significant confusion and disrupting the delicate balance of power in elections, the order stated in justifying its ruling.

That lower court had determined that Texas had likely grouped voters by their race – a method known as racial gerrymandering – when it enacted the boundaries. It had mandated the state to employ the boundaries created after the most recent national count for the upcoming election.

Sharp Dissenting Opinion

With a forcefully written dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan took issue with the majority's action. She contended that it disregarded the work of the district court, pointing out that its ruling was crafted by a judge nominated by former President Donald Trump.

Our position is above the district court, but our capability is not greater for resolving such fact-driven issues, Kagan argued in a opinion joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Kagan added, Today's ruling ensures that Texas's redistricting plan, with all its boosted political tilt, will control next year's elections. And it means that many Texas citizens, unjustly, will be placed in electoral districts due to their race. And that result, as this court has stated repeatedly, is a breach of the constitution.

National Map-Drawing Battle

The ruling occurs during a nationwide battle over the redrawing of electoral maps. Texas is a key piece in efforts to reshape the U.S. House map to bolster a fragile Republican majority. Typically, map-drawing happens after a decennial population count. Yet the action by Texas Republicans to proceed with a bold mid-cycle redistricting earlier in the summer triggered a wave among other states.

GOP lawmakers in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also approved redistricting plans that could add a number of additional GOP-friendly seats. Democratic lawmakers, in response, have countered with new maps in states like California and Virginia, which could offset those projected gains.

Partisan Responses

The Texas AG welcomed the High Court's decision. In a release, he said the order protected Texas's basic authority to draw a map that secures electoral outcomes supportive of his party. Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state, he added.

Conversely, Democratic representatives decried the decision. It's incredibly disappointing that the Court has rubber stamped a map enacted by Texas Republicans which, simply put, is an extreme, racially gerrymandered map, said the head of a major party election organization.

A leading Democratic leader argued the court had another time damaged its credibility by rubber-stamping a discriminatory map. The ruling demonstrates a willingness to subvert democracy. This Texas plan is a partisan, racially biased scheme to undermine voter will, especially in communities of color, he stated.