The US Supreme Court allowed Texas to redraw its electoral map and add up to five likely Republican-controlled House districts.
A lower court said the map was manipulated to eliminate majority-minority districts, an unconstitutional racial discrimination, but Texas said its motivation was helping Republicans win, which is perfectly legal. The Supreme Court ruling boosts the GOP’s chances of preserving its Congressional majority, though Democrats have themselves drawn a new California map that would help them win several seats.
Tit-for-tat gerrymandering rows happen every few years, and there is a campaign for making redistricting decisions nonpartisan, although either party unilaterally stepping back would be akin to “bringing a knife to a gun fight,” a lawyer wrote for the American Constitution Society.