The United States Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas’s 2026 congressional redistricting plan likely discriminates on the basis of race.
An order signed on Friday by Justice Samuel Alito puts the lower court’s injunction on hold for at least several days while the high court considers whether the new, Republican‑favouring map can be used in next year’s midterm elections.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised the move. The administrative stay temporarily prevents enforcement of the injunction against Texas’s map, and Paxton said activists are “abusing the judicial system” to try to overturn the Republican plan.
Texas redrew its congressional map in August as part of former President Donald Trump’s push to preserve a narrow GOP majority in the House in the 2026 midterms. The redistricting was designed to give Republicans five additional House seats. A three‑judge federal panel in El Paso, sitting 2‑1, ruled this week that civil rights groups representing Black and Hispanic voters were likely to prevail in showing the map is racially discriminatory and therefore violates constitutional protections.
With the Supreme Court’s short stay in place, Texas is temporarily reverting to its 2025 congressional map for voting, while the legality of the new map is litigated in the coming weeks and months, The Texas Tribune reported.
Texas was the first state to adopt a Trump‑backed redistricting plan. Missouri and North Carolina followed with new maps that would each add a Republican seat. In response, California voters approved a ballot initiative to add five seats favorable to Democrats. New maps in California, Missouri and North Carolina are also facing legal challenges.
Republicans currently hold slim majorities in both chambers of Congress. Losing control of the House or Senate in the November 2026 elections would threaten Republican and Trump legislative priorities during the remainder of his term.
Court battles over gerrymandering have a long history. In 2019 the Supreme Court held that partisan gerrymandering claims are not justiciable in federal courts. However, maps drawn primarily on the basis of race remain unlawful under the Constitution: the 14th Amendment’s equal protection guarantee and the 15th Amendment’s ban on racial discrimination in voting continue to prohibit race‑based gerrymandering.
