The Supreme Court’s endorsement of how Texas Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map is providing hope to California Democrats as they put together to defend their map in court docket this month – and emboldening different states to maneuver forward.
The excessive court docket allowed Texas to use a congressional map giving Republicans a greater probability at 5 further US House seats, staying a district court docket’s ruling that the new boundaries had been probably unconstitutional as a result of they had been drawn based mostly on race.
Texas Republicans argued that partisan achieve, not race, drove their choices. In a brief order issued Thursday, the Supreme Court’s majority wrote that the decrease court docket “failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith” in blocking the map. And in a concurrence, conservative Justice Samuel Alito explicitly linked Texas’ redistricting to what California Democrats did.
It was “indisputable,” Alito wrote, that “the impetus for the adoption of the Texas map (like the map subsequently adopted in California) was partisan advantage pure and simple.” He wrote for himself and two different conservatives, Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.
The court docket’s statements may give Democratic- and Republican-led states the inexperienced gentle to attempt to create as many seats pleasant to their facet as potential forward of subsequent 12 months’s midterms. It additionally undercuts the US Department of Justice’s push to throw out California’s map producing as much as 5 new Democratic-friendly seats, authorized specialists stated.
“It’s going to be an uphill battle for the Department of Justice in California after this decision,” stated Derek Muller, a legislation professor at the University of Notre Dame, who specializes in election legislation. “The court went out of its way to mention California – a case that’s not before them – to put it in symmetry with Texas.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s workplace and Justice Department officers tussled on social media after the Supreme Court’s motion.
Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the excessive court docket’s determination, writing on X that it demonstrated that “federal courts have no right to interfere with a State’s decision to redraw legislative maps for partisan reasons.”
Newsom’s press workplace responded: “So you gonna drop your lawsuit against us right, Pam?”
“Not a chance, Gavin — we will stop your DEI districts for 2026,” retorted the DOJ’s official account.
A district court docket listening to in the California case is ready for December 15.
Despite the on-line bravado, the Justice Department’s case in California “has a bunch of new roadblocks in its way” after the Supreme Court’s motion, stated Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor who has labored on election points in Democratic administrations. “You can’t actually win a case through marketing. The courts aren’t doing TikTok.”
The debate over the Texas and California maps is an element of an ever-widening battle between the political events to realize an higher hand forward of subsequent 12 months’s midterm elections. Republicans maintain a paper-thin majority in the US House, and the president’s social gathering sometimes loses floor in the midterm elections.
To assist defend the GOP’s majority, Texas redrew its maps at Trump’s behest in an effort to realize 5 extra seats which are favorable to Republicans. California responded with its map redraw, which voters endorsed by a large margin final month.
Other states even have enacted new maps – with new Republican-friendly districts now in place in North Carolina, Ohio and Missouri. (Opponents of the Missouri redraw are slated to ship petitions to state officers subsequent week, aimed toward blocking the map and placing it to voters to resolve. But months of political and authorized wrangling are nonetheless anticipated.)
The Republican-controlled Indiana House on Friday approved a map pushed by Trump that may give the social gathering a bonus in all 9 of its congressional districts, though its destiny is unsure in the state Senate. Democrats at present management two US House seats from Indiana, and Republicans maintain seven.
National Democratic leaders proceed to press for brand spanking new maps in deep-blue Illinois and Maryland. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries argued this week that Democratic incumbents resembling Rep. Henry Cuellar, lately pardoned by Trump, nonetheless may win reelection in Texas districts which have been redrawn to favor Republicans.
The largest beneficial properties for Democrats may come in Virginia, the place the social gathering subsequent 12 months will management the governor’s workplace and each legislative chambers. Democrats at present maintain six of 11 US House seats. Virginia House Speaker Don Scott lately argued {that a} map giving Democrats an edge in 10 of 11 districts “is not out of the realm.”
Virginia Senate Pro Tem Louise Lucas responded to Thursday’s ruling clearing Texas’ map with two posts on her X account.
“I got something waiting for Texas…,” she wrote, followed by: “I will give a follow back to every person who I see tweet 10-1 tonight.”
Marina Jenkins, government director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, stated the Supreme Court’s determination upholding the Texas map demonstrates that her social gathering can’t depend on the court docket to cease redistricting efforts focusing on Democrats.
“It’s clear that no one else is coming to save us,” Jenkins stated. “No cavalry is coming. If we’re going to battle for our democracy, we now have to do it ourselves.