Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The conservative-leaning Supreme Court on Thursday permitted Texas to use new congressional maps in the next midterm elections that were redrawn to favor the Republican Party, handing President Donald Trump a win in his litigious fight to gain an advantage to maintain control of Congress.
In a 6-3 ruling, divided along political lines, the U.S. high court said a lower district court erred when it earlier enjoined the maps' use.
"The district court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and upsetting the delicate federal-state balance in elections," the court said in the unsigned opinion.
At Trump's urging, Texas' legislature passed mid-decade maps that are projected to give the Republican Party five extra seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, which the GOP narrowly maintains control of.
The move has set off a gerrymandering arms race.
