Alito pauses lower court ruling that would have blocked Texas redistricting

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito put a temporary hold on a lower court order that would have blocked Texas from rolling out its new congressional map. Alito did not explain his decision to impose an administrative stay, which is a "time out" to freeze the status quo in place to allow the justices time to consider the matter and says nothing about the actual merits of the dispute. Alito's order Friday evening came less than an hour after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and attorneys for the state filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court seeking to preserve the state's controversial mid-decade redistricting plan, aimed at securing five more Republican seats in the House of Representatives. In a decision earlier this week, the lower court's majority opinion said "substantial evidence" indi