Supreme Court Allows New Texas Maps

On Thursday, the Supreme Court released a long-awaited decision on the Texas redistricting case. And in their 6-3 ruling, they paused a lower court’s decision, which essentially allows the new maps passed in a mid-decade redistricting bill over the summer to be used in the state’s 2026 elections as the legal process continues to play out.

The Court’s decision caps off a particularly dramatic fight over redistricting, that started a few months ago when the Trump White House signaled to states like Texas that they would like them to pursue mid-decade redistricting. And weeks after Governor Abbott called a special session of the Texas legislature, he added additional agenda items including redistricting.

The redistricting saga spanned over two special sessions of the Texas legislature over the summer. The first session ended after enough Texas House Democrats left the state and broke quorum, raising awareness throughout the country about these potential new maps. But the redistricting bill did pass in both the Texas House and Senate in the second special session.

And after lawsuits were filed, a case ended up in front of a three-judge panel at a district court in El Paso. And in a 2-1 decision (authored by Trump-appointed Judge Jeffrey Brown), the district court ruled these maps were racially gerrymandered, and thus blocked.

Justice Alito, who oversees appeals from Texas, ordered a stay on the district court’s ruling a few weeks ago. And then yesterday, the full pausing of the El Paso’s court’s decision was released with just a few paragraphs from Alito, who emphasized that Texas “needed certainty” on which map would be used for 2026.

In a Supreme Court dissent, Justice Elena Kagan noted that this ruling from the higher court contradicts and ignores the findings of the district court, which heard from multiple witnesses over nine days.

“Today’s 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. And today’s order disserves the millions of Texans whom the District Court found were assigned to their new districts based on their race.”

In a post on Twitter, Texas Governor Greg Abbott reacted positively to the news from the Supreme Court. Whether or not the state will net an additional five Republican seats does remain to be seen.

As the news about the decision came rolling in, several Texas Democrats expressed their displeasure over the ruling. Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher of Houston said the new map “betrays the fundamental principle that all Texans should have a say in our government.”

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder criticized the ruling but vowed that the work of his party would continue in the state. “Texas Democrats have already stepped up to run in these newly drawn districts, and they haven’t changed their minds,” said Scudder. “We still believe that voters should pick their politicians; politicians don’t get to pick their voters. Texas Democrats are going to organize and fight like hell to keep this principle and fight this disastrous agenda.”

The filing deadline for candidates to appear on either the Republican or Democratic ballot in the Texas midterms is Monday, December 8. And the primary elections are scheduled for Tuesday, March 3, 2026.