The ruling solidifies Texas’ 2025 mid-decade redistricting plan, known as Plan C2333, for use in the 2026 midterm elections and beyond, clearing the way for what could give Republicans as many as five additional seats in Congress.
In a short, unsignedorderissued today, the justices stated simply, “We reverse the District Court’s judgment.”
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented without opinion.
Texas gained two new congressional seats following the 2020 census, bringing its total to 38.
The state legislature drew new maps in 2021 that largely held up under legal challenge. However, in the summer of 2025, Republican leaders, urged on by President Donald Trump and Governor Greg Abbott, convened a special legislative session to redraw the congressional lines mid-decade, a move aimed squarely at maximizing Republican advantage ahead of the 2026 midterms.
The new map was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed into law by Governor Abbott in late August.
Plan C2333 was explicitly designed to flip several Democratic-held districts by strategically adjusting boundaries while preserving or enhancing Republican majorities.
Supporters described it as a lawful exercise of partisan advantage, which the Supreme Court has previously ruled is permissible under the Constitution inRucho v. Common Cause.
Leftist civil rights groups immediately sued, arguing the map constituted an unconstitutional racial gerrymander in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. They claimed that race was the predominant factor in drawing certain district lines, violating precedents such asShaw v. Renoand the Voting Rights Act.
In November, the district court issued a detailed ruling blocking the map, ruling that Texas had engaged in unconstitutional racial sorting when drawing the districts.
Source: The Gateway Pundit
