(The Center Square) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled for a second and final time in favor of Texas’ redistricting law, effectively ending all challenges to the state's new congressional maps. This was after the high court chastised district court judges in El Paso for their handling of the case and blocked their ruling from going into effect, The Center Square reported.
The Supreme Court’s emergency ruling last December allowed Texas’ new congressional maps to remain in effect for the 2026 midterm election. A May 26 runoff election is the partial result of this: new districts and multiple candidates running for open seats led to many races still to be determined.
Last year, during a second special session, more than 50 House Democrats left the state to prevent the law from being voted on. Fleeing to California, Illinois, New York and elsewhere, they effectively halted legislative business for more than two weeks. The law was eventually passed, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law.
Several groups then sued and two federal judges in El Paso ruled that Texas’ new redistricting law, which had already been on the books for more than 75 days, couldn’t be used. Instead, Texas must use a 2021 law, they said, even after the legislature repealed the 2021 law.
The lone dissenting Circuit judge, Jerry Smith, expressed outrage over the process, alleging the chief judge engaged in “judicial misbehavior” and “outrageous conduct,” The Center Square reported. The two majority judges had issued other decisions the U.S. Supreme Court later vacated, Smith said, adding that this ruling was no different.
After the El Paso ruling, Texas filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court requesting a stay of the lower court ruling. In its 6-3 December ruling, it said the district court “committed at least two serious [legal] errors” and ignored Supreme Court warnings about redistricting lawsuits filed months before an election.
“This Court has repeatedly emphasized that lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election,” it said. “The District Court violated that rule here. The District Court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and upsetting the delicate federal-state balance in elections.”
Agreeing with Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court also chastised the two lower court judges for “failing to apply correct legal standards set out in case law,” The Center Square reported.
Finding no need to repeat itself, the Supreme Court on Monday simply stated it reversed the district court’s judgment. It issued two sentences related to the case in an order list noting that justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown-Jackson dissented “from the court’s summary reversal.” The same justices dissented last year.
In response, Abbott Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris told The Center Square the governor “is pleased that the Supreme Court reversed a poorly reasoned decision that halted Texas’ new congressional maps. The right legal answer was obvious. These maps better represent our constituents and allow more Texans to vote for the candidate of their choice. This is a victory for Texas voters, for common sense, and for the U.S. Constitution."
Attorney General Ken Paxton also said the ruling was “a clear rejection of meritless attacks and a victory for the rule of law. Texas’s congressional map is lawful, constitutional, and reflects the will of our citizens.”
State Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, who leads the Texas Democratic Caucus and led House Democrats fleeing the state last year, disagreed. He said the Supreme Court “did not protect the Constitution” in its ruling. He again said the new congressional map is “racist,” enables Republicans to steal seats, “weaken Black and Latino voting power,” and creates “a rigged path to keep control of Congress.”
He also said the ruling was not a victory for Texas Republicans or Republicans in general. “When we broke quorum last year, Texas House Democrats forced his power grab into the open. Now, California and Virginia have answered and leveled the playing field, and Democrats across the country are still fighting back,” Wu said in an emailed statement.
Abbott is still pressing forward with his case before the Texas Supreme Court to have Wu removed from office, arguing he vacated his seat when he absconded. The Texas House has also fined more than 50 members nearly $423,000 for absconding.
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