The Supreme Court granted Texas’s request to block a federal district court that called the state’s new map unconstitutional.
“Based on our preliminary evaluation of this case, Texas satisfies the traditional criteria for interim relief,” the Court wrote. The decision notes that the district court “failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith by construing ambiguous direct and circumstantial evidence against the legislature.”
The District Court “failed to draw a dispositive or near-dispositive adverse inference against respondents even though they did not produce a viable alternative map that met the State’s avowedly partisan goals,” the decision adds.
“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,” Texas Attorney General Paxton said in a 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.”
Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, filed a dissent, declaring that the order “disrespects the work of a District Court that did everything one could ask to carry out its charge—that put aside every consideration except getting the issue before it right.”
In November, a panel of judges found that “politics played a role in drawing the 2025 map.”
“But it was much more than just politics,” the decision read. “Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”
