The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to block California’s newly adopted congressional map, clearing the state to use the revised district lines for most of its 52 House seats in this year’s midterm elections. The decision leaves in place a map expected to net Democrats up to five additional seats.
Republican plaintiffs had sought emergency relief requiring California to revert to its 2021 commission-drawn map. Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, wrote that politics, not race, drove redistricting decisions in both California and Texas, describing the effort as “partisan advantage pure and simple.”
