WASHINGTON – Texas on Friday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate its new congressional map, a plan a lower court said is likely an unconstitutional racial gerrymander but that could help Republicans cement control of the House for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term.
Within hours of the filing, Justice Samuel Alito issued an administrative stay blocking the lower court’s ruling and allowing the 2025 map to remain in place while the justices weigh the emergency appeal. Alito, who oversees the 5th U.S. Circuit, gave civil rights groups until Monday evening to respond, signaling the court is moving quickly.
The three-judge district court had barred Texas from using the new lines after finding lawmakers likely violated the Equal Protection Clause by redrawing districts in response to a Trump Justice Department letter that explicitly urged changes to the racial composition of four seats. Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee, said the governor had “explicitly directed the legislature to redistrict based on race.”
Texas insists the map is driven by partisanship, not race — a crucial distinction. The Supreme Court in 2019 said partisan gerrymandering claims are beyond the reach of federal courts, but it has long held that race cannot be the predominant factor in drawing districts.
“This summer, the Texas Legislature did what legislatures do: politics,” the state told the court, arguing that it acted “solely to secure more Republican seats in Congress.” Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Democrats of gerrymandering their own states while “hurling baseless ‘racism’ accusations because they are losing.”
The stakes are enormous. The new map would likely flip five Democratic-held seats, shoring up a GOP House majority currently resting on just three seats. Brown ordered Texas to fall back on the map drawn after the 2020 census, under which Republicans hold 25 of the state’s 38 districts.
Texas also leans heavily on timing, invoking the so-called Purcell principle, under which the Supreme Court has warned lower courts against making last-minute changes to election rules. Candidates are already campaigning under the 2025 map, the filing notes, with the March 3, 2026 primary less than 100 days away.
The special redistricting court split 2–1, with Brown joined by an Obama appointee. In a blistering dissent, Reagan-appointed Judge Jerry Smith called the majority opinion “replete with legal and factual error,” quipping that “if this were a law school exam, the opinion would deserve an ‘F.’”
The justices must now decide, on a compressed timeline, whether to leave the lower court’s racial-gerrymander finding in place — forcing Texas back to its old lines — or allow the new GOP-tilted map to shape the 2026 midterms.
