US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday temporarily stayed a lower court order that blocked Texas’s new congressional map that would have created additional seats for Republicans.

The Supreme Court order temporarily restored the new congressional map, pending further review, hours after Texas’s Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an emergency appeal following the lower court’s ruling to block the legislation.

The US District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled on Tuesday that the Texas legislature’s intent to redraw the congressional map constituted racial gerrymandering in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the US Constitution. The lower court found the new districts unlawful as the new map redrew districts based on separating one racial group in the majority of each new district.

Noting that the attention on the case has been based predominantly on the political future of the US House of Representatives, US District Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote in his 160-page memorandum opinion and order that the effort by Texas to redistrict was, rather, racially charged to create new majority-Hispanic districts.

Brown quoted US Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, stating: “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

Redistricting efforts around the country have garnered significant attention for their potential impact on the 2026 midterm elections. California voters passed a proposition to redistrict, which is currently being challenged; North Carolina senators approved a congressional map redraw in October; and Missouri is seeking to redistrict using a President Donald Trump-backed map.