Hansi Lo Wang

Missouri's Republican-friendly map is still facing lawsuits and a referendum effort.

Plus, another wave of congressional gerrymandering may be coming, depending on what and when the Supreme Court decides in a Louisiana case.

Many legal experts are expecting the court's decision to weaken the Voting Rights Act's protections against racial discrimination in redistricting.

Anzila Wong, NPR News.

Good morning, Steve.

Well, this was a three-judge panel that the majority ruling written by a judge nominated by President Trump.

The Supreme Court has put a pause on this order.

And this order by the lower court found that this congressional map Texas passed back in August is likely unconstitutional because it discriminates against voters based on race.

This lower court ruling cited a letter that the Justice Department wrote to Texas officials and multiple public statements by key Republican state lawmakers involved in developing the map.

And I'll suggest Texas lawmakers pass this map to eliminate existing districts in Texas where black and Latino voters together make up the majority.

Well, a majority of conservative justices on the Supreme Court basically sided with Texas state lawmakers who have said they were not motivated by race and were driven instead to draw new districts that are more likely to elect Republicans.

The court's majority wrote that the lower court ruling, quote, failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith.

And the majority also said the lower court, quote, improperly inserted itself into Texas's primary campaign by releasing its ruling last month in the middle of the candidate filing period.

Yes, the court's three liberal justices dissented.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote their dissenting opinion.

It said that the court's majority decision to allow Texas to use this map for next year's midterms, quote, ensures that many Texas citizens for no good reason will be placed in electoral districts because of their race, and that violates the Constitution.

There's a lot going on, but let's start with California.

Voters in that state approved a Democratic-friendly congressional map last month to counter the Texas map that President Trump pushed for to help Republicans, and the Supreme Court is now allowing.

And this month, a federal court is holding a hearing on whether to block California's map for the midterms.

Last week, a different federal court ruled to allow North Carolina to use a new Republican-friendly map.