The Texas State Capitol on August 11, 2025, in Austin, Texas, USA, on the day a new session of the Texas House of Representatives begins after Democratic lawmakers left the state to deny Republicans the chance to redistrict the state’s 38 congressional districts.
Sergio Flores | Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling that found President Donald Trump’s 2026 Texas legislative redistricting plan likely discriminated on the basis of race.
The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito will remain in effect for at least the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the use of new maps favoring Republicans in the midterm elections.
The court’s conservative majority has blocked similar lower court rulings because the election is too close.
The order came about an hour after the state asked the high court to intervene to avoid chaos as March’s congressional primary elections approach. The justices recently blocked previous lower court rulings in congressional redistricting cases decided in Alabama and Louisiana months before the elections.
The order was signed by Alito because he is the judge presiding over the emergency appeal from Texas.
Texas redraws its congressional maps over the summer as part of President Trump’s efforts to maintain a narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives in next year’s elections, kickstarting a nationwide redistricting battle. The new districting map was created to give Republicans five more House seats, but a panel of federal judges in El Paso ruled Tuesday in a 2-1 decision that civil rights groups that challenged the map on behalf of black and Hispanic voters were likely to succeed.
If the ruling ultimately stands, Texas could be forced to hold elections next year using maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2021 based on the 2020 census.
Texas is the first state to accede to President Trump’s request amid a growing nationwide fight over redistricting. Republicans drew a new map of the state giving Republicans five more seats, followed by new maps for Missouri and North Carolina each adding an additional Republican seat. To counter those moves, California voters approved a voting plan that would give Democrats five additional seats.
The redrawn maps are being challenged in court in California, Missouri, and North Carolina.
The Supreme Court is separately considering a Louisiana case that could further restrict race-based voting under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It is not entirely clear how current redistricting will be affected by the outcome of the Louisiana case.
