Supreme Court Axes Texas Electoral Map

The Supreme Court threw out a federal court's draft of a Texas electoral map, saying it strayed too far from the one drawn by the state's Republican legislature. The decision, which was issued by the court as a whole, rather than signed by an individual justice, is a near-term win for Republicans, likely guaranteeing them a friendly 2012 map, Politico reports.

But the court stopped short of voiding the Voting Rights Act provision that allows for judicial review of electoral maps to ensure proper minority representation, as some activists had feared it might. Only Clarence Thomas said he'd support that, the AP reports. A DC court is evaluating Texas' map at the moment, so a San Antonio court had been asked to draw a temporary fill-in. But the justices said that court appeared to ignore legislators' wishes, even redrawing districts where no discrimination was alleged. (More US Supreme Court stories.)