The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use a new congressional map designed to help Republicans pick up as many as five seats next year. A lower court had previously ruled the redistricting plan was unconstitutional because it would likely dilute the political power of Black and Latino voters. Liberal Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent, “This court’s stay ensures that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced year in and year out, is a violation of the constitution.”