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In a unsigned decision, the highest judicial body has allowed Texas to employ a revised congressional map that could add up to five new Republican-leaning districts. The 6-3 decision, issued on Thursday, approves a request by the state to set aside a district court's block that had rejected the redistricting plan in November.

Justices' Explanation

The lower court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, creating significant confusion and disrupting the delicate balance of power in elections, the justices wrote in explaining its decision.

The district court had earlier ruled that Texas had probably grouped voters by their race – a act known as racial gerrymandering – when it enacted the boundaries. It had mandated the state to employ the districts drawn after the most recent national count for the next year's election.

Stinging Opposition

In a forcefully written dissent, Justice Elena Kagan took issue with the majority's action. She contended that it disregarded the work of the lower court, noting that its decision was actually authored by a judge appointed by ex-President Donald Trump.

Our position is above the district court, but our capability is not greater for resolving such fact-driven issues, Kagan stated in a opinion co-signed by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She continued, Today's ruling guarantees that Texas's redistricting plan, with all its boosted partisan advantage, will control next year's elections. And it guarantees that many Texas residents, unjustly, will be sorted in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced consistently, is a breach of the constitution.

National Redistricting Battle

This decision comes amid a national contest over the remapping of electoral maps. Texas is a key piece in pushes to transform the U.S. House map to bolster a slim Republican majority. Usually, redistricting happens after a decennial population count. Yet the action by Texas Republicans to initiate a bold mid-cycle redistricting earlier this year set off a chain reaction among other states.

GOP lawmakers in states like North Carolina and Missouri have also enacted new maps that could add several additional Republican-leaning seats. The opposition, for their part, have pushed back with new maps in states like California and Virginia, which could offset those potential gains.

Partisan Reactions

Lone Star State attorney general hailed the supreme court ruling. In a comment, he said the order protected Texas's fundamental right to draw a map that secures representation supportive of his party. Texas is paving the way as we take our country back, district by district, state by state, he remarked.

In contrast, opposition party representatives lamented the decision. It is deeply disheartening that the Court has endorsed this severely racially gerrymandered plan from Texas Republicans, said the head of a major Democratic campaign committee.

A top Democratic figure argued the court had yet again damaged its standing by rubber-stamping a race-based map. This decision from the Court's far-right bloc proves extremists are willing to rig elections. The Texas map is a discriminatory power grab targeting Black and Latino voters, he concluded.