SCOTUS allows Texas to use redrawn congressional redistricting map favoring GOP

The Supreme Court has signaled that Texas will likely prevail in its defense of its new congressional map, accusing a lower court of misreading evidence and ignoring required legal inferences as the state heads toward the 2026 election.

In a brief order that keeps Gov. Greg Abbott’s redrawn districts in place for the time being, the Court said the district court made two major errors — first by failing to apply the presumption of legislative good faith when considering the disputed evidence, and second by refusing to reach a near-decisive finding against challengers who offered no alternative maps meeting Texas’ partisan goals.

The stay is temporary while the merits review plays out, but Justice Elena Kagan warned, dissenting, that the ruling effectively locks in the contested boundaries for the 2026 midterm elections because of looming state deadlines.

“This Court’s willingness to play the role of a district court has serious consequences,” Kagen said. “The majority characterizes its ‘assessment’ of this matter as ‘preliminary.’ But the results will not be the same at all.

DOJ SUPPORTS TEXAS IN SUPREME COURT FIGHT OVER REPUBLICAN-DRAWN MAP

Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote a letter on January 30, ordering the heads of state agencies to follow state and federal laws regarding gender issues. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

“This Court’s stay ensures that the new Texas map, with all its increased partisan advantage, will govern next year’s elections to the House of Representatives. And this Court’s stay ensures that many Texas citizens, without good reason, will be placed in voting districts because of their race,” Kagen continued. “And this result, as this Court has declared year after year, is a violation of the Constitution.”

The decision comes amid a broader, unprecedented national redistricting battle led by current President Donald Trump’s efforts to shore up the Republican majority in the House before 2026 — a campaign that began in Texas before quickly spreading to other states.

In an effort to avoid what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections, Trump in June first floated the idea of ​​a rare but not unheard of mid-decade congressional redistricting.

ABBOTT SIGNS TEXAS REDISTRACT MAP INTO LAW, SECURING MAJOR GOP VICTORY BEFORE 2026 MIDTERMS

Republican state Sen. Phil King displays a map during a public testimony hearing of the Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting, August 7, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The mission was simple: redraw congressional district maps in red states to strengthen the Republican Party’s razor-thin majority in the House and maintain control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the ruling party traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

Texas was Trump’s first target.

A month later, when asked by reporters about his plan to add Republican-leaning seats in the House of Representatives across the country, the president said: “Texas will be the biggest.” And it will be five. »

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas called a special session of the state legislature, dominated by the GOP, to pass the new map. Democratic state lawmakers broke quorum for two weeks as they fled Texas in an effort to delay passage of the redistricting bill.

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Governor Greg Abbott is seen November 14, 2025 in Midlothian, Texas. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

The Legislature ultimately passed the bill, and Abbott signed it into law in late August.

But the new map immediately faced legal challenges, and the plight of Texas lawmakers who fled the state energized Democrats across the country.

Among those who jumped into the fight against Trump’s redistricting was Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.

A month ago, California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that will temporarily hijack the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission from the left and return congressional map-drawing power to the Democratic-dominated Legislature.

This is expected to result in the creation of five additional Democratic-leaning districts in California, in an effort to counter Texas’ decision to redraw its maps.

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California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during an election night press conference at a California Democratic Party office, Tuesday, November 4, 2025, in Sacramento, California. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)

But the fight has spread beyond Texas and California.

Right-wing Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio drew new maps as part of the president’s efforts. The red-leaning Indiana Legislature is meeting this week to try to pass redistricting, while Florida and Kansas are also considering redrawing their maps.

“We must keep the majority at all costs,” Trump wrote on social media last month.

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Illinois and Maryland, both blue states, and Virginia, where Democrats control the legislature, are also taking action or seriously considering redistricting.

And in a blow to Republicans, a Utah district judge last month rejected a congressional district map drawn by the GOP-dominated Legislature and instead approved an alternative that will create a Democratic-leaning district before the 2026 midterm elections.