Washington, D.C. – Justice Samuel Alito issued an administrative stay Friday allowing Texas to temporarily use its 2025 congressional map, even as a lower court found substantial evidence the map racially gerrymanders Black and Hispanic voters. The stay pauses a ruling from a three-judge federal panel that determined civil-rights groups were likely to succeed in their challenge after Texas redrew the map under pressure from President Donald Trump, who sought five additional Republican-held House seats.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote that the evidence showed Texas dismantled coalition districts and converted them into near-exact 50 percent single-group majorities — a redistricting pattern long associated with racial vote dilution. Judge Jerry Smith dissented sharply, defending the map and accusing challengers of overreach.
With the December 8 candidate filing deadline days away, Texas warned the injunction could cause “chaos” and stressed that many GOP candidates had already filed and fundraised under the new districts. The administrative stay will remain in place while the Supreme Court considers whether the map can be used for the 2026 midterms.
Texas was the first state to adopt Trump-backed mid-cycle redistricting, spurring similar efforts in Missouri and North Carolina, while California Democrats responded by approving a ballot initiative to add five seats of their own. Multiple states are now tied up in redistricting litigation, including a separate Supreme Court case from Louisiana that could further restrict the use of race-based districts under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
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