Supreme Court lets Texas use gerrymandered map that could give GOP 5 more House seats
The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use its new congressional map that could help Republicans win five more U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm election.
The decision released Thursday boosts the GOP’s chances of preserving its slim majority in the House of Representatives amid an unprecedented gerrymandering fight launched by President Trump, who has been pushing Texas and other GOP-led states to redraw their congressional districts to benefit Republicans.
The high court’s unsigned order follows Texas’ emergency request for the justices to pause a three-judge panel’s ruling blocking the state’s recently redrawn map.
After holding a nine-day hearing in October, that panel found challengers of the new map are likely to prove in a trial that the map violates the Constitution by discriminating against voters based on race.
In its majority opinion, authored by a Trump nominee, the panel cited a letter from the Department of Justice and multiple public statements by key Republican state lawmakers that suggested their mapdrawer manipulated the racial demographics of voting districts to eliminate existing districts where Black and Latino voters together make up the majority. For the next year’s midterms, the panel ordered Texas to keep using the congressional districts the state’s GOP-controlled legislature drew in 2021.
But in Texas’ filing to the Supreme Court, the state claimed the lawmakers were not motivated by race and were focused instead on drawing new districts that are more likely to elect Republicans.
In November, after the panel blocked the new map, Justice Samuel Alito allowed Texas to temporarily reinstate it while the Supreme Court reviewed the state’s emergency request.
The mid-decade redistricting plan Texas Republicans passed in August sparked a counter response by Democratic leaders in California, where voters in a special election in November approved a new congressional map that could help Democrats gain five additional House seats. A court hearing for a legal challenge to that map is set for Dec. 15.
The rest of the redistricting landscape remains unsettled as well. Lawsuits are challenging new gerrymanders in places like Missouri, where there is also a contested referendum effort. And other states, including Florida, Indiana and Virginia, may also pursue new districts prior to the midterms.
Last week, a federal court ruled to allow North Carolina’s midterm election to be held under a recently redrawn map that could give Republicans an additional seat.
Another wave of congressional redistricting may be coming soon depending on what — and when — the Supreme Court decides in a voting rights case about Louisiana’s congressional map. After the court held a rare rehearing for that case in October, some states are watching for a potential earlier-than-usual ruling that may allow Republican-led states to draw more GOP-friendly districts in time for the 2026 midterms.
Edited by Benjamin Swasey
Justice Department opens investigation into Minnesota governor and Minneapolis mayor
Federal prosecutors are investigating Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey.
No sign of new protests in Iran as a hard-line cleric calls for executions
A Iran returns to an uneasy calm after protests led to a violent crackdown, a senior cleric is calling for the death penalty for detained demonstrators. His sermon Friday also threatened U.S. President Trump.
Gulf South food banks look back on a challenging year as another shutdown looms
Federal funding cuts and a 43-day government shutdown made 2025 a chaotic year for Gulf South food banks. For many, the challenges provide a road map for 2026.
Measles is spreading fast in S.C. Here’s what it says about vaccine exemptions
More than 550 people have contracted measles in Spartanburg County, S.C., in a fast-growing outbreak. Like a majority of U.S. counties, nonmedical exemptions to school vaccination are also rising.
It took 75 governors to elect a woman. Spanberger will soon be at Virginia’s helm
Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer and three-term congresswoman, is breaking long-held traditions on inauguration day. She says she wants her swearing-in to showcase the state's modern vibrancy.
For those with addiction, going into and coming out of prison can be a minefield.
Many jails and prisons around the country don't provide medication treatment for opioid use disorder. Studies show that medication makes recovery more likely and reduces the risk of overdose death.
