US supreme court reinstates Texas electoral map favoring Republicans | Texas
The US supreme court on Monday formally reinstated a redrawn Texas electoral map designed to add more Republicans to the US House of Representatives, as Donald Trump’s party tries to maintain control of Congress in November’s congressional elections.
The move by the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, formalizes an interim decision it made in December to revive the map of U.S. House districts in Texas.
The reinstated map sought by Trump, approved by the Republican-led state legislature in August 2025 and signed by Republican governor Greg Abbott, would flip to Republicans five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives currently held by Democrats.
As in December, the court’s three liberal justices dissented from Monday’s decision.
The high court reversed a lower court decision that blocked Texas from using the map. The lower court had ruled that the map likely contained racial discrimination that would violate U.S. constitutional protections. Trump last year encouraged Republican lawmakers to redraw state congressional maps to boost his party’s chances in the midterm elections.
In February, the high court allowed California to use a new electoral map designed to give Democrats five more congressional seats after the Democratic-led state redrew House districts in response to Republican action in Texas.
Republicans currently hold slim majorities in both houses of Congress. Giving Democrats control of the House or Senate in the upcoming elections would jeopardize Trump’s legislative agenda and open the door to Democrat-led congressional investigations targeting the president.
The process of redrawing maps, known as redistricting, usually occurs every ten years to reflect population changes as measured by a national census taken every 10 years. On the other hand, ongoing and recently completed redistricting efforts by Republican- and Democrat-held state legislatures are driven by a desire for partisan advantage.
