(AURN News) — The U.S. Supreme Court last week handed Texas a major victory, allowing the state to move forward with a new congressional map that critics say sharply diminishes the political influence of Black and Latino voters.
The Court granted an application for a stay in Abbott v. League of United Latin American Citizens, meaning Texas can use its newly drawn districts while litigation continues. The map, crafted by Republican state leaders, is projected to increase the number of GOP-held seats from 22 to 30 out of the state’s 38 congressional districts.
“With an eye on the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, several States have in recent months redrawn their congressional districts in ways that are predicted to favor the State’s dominant political party,” the Court wrote in its stay order.
Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. In her written dissent, Kagan warned that the decision will force Texans into districts assigned “because of their race.”
“That result, as this Court has pronounced year in and year out, is a violation of the Constitution,” she wrote.
Civil rights groups say the map erases or weakens multiple Black and Latino opportunity districts across the state. Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York and the Congressional Black Caucus argue that race is central to the case.
“The right-wing supermajority on the Supreme Court has dealt a blow to our democracy by shamefully rubber-stamping President Trump and Governor Abbott’s coordinated political scheme to stack the deck ahead of the midterms with a racially gerrymandered map that disenfranchises Black and Brown voters in Texas,” the CBC said in a statement.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries echoed the criticism on X, writing, “The right-wing Supreme Court majority has once again shredded its credibility by rubber-stamping a racially gerrymandered map in Texas. Republicans know the extremists can only win by cheating.”
Voting-rights experts say the decision underscores an ongoing threat to the political power of Black voters nationwide.
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