Texas on Friday filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court after a ruling by a panel of federal judges blocked the state from using its redrawn congressional map, calling it “racially gerrymandered.”

Shortly after filing the petition, Justice Samuel Alito issued an administrative stay, temporarily putting the lower panel’s decision blocking Texas’ new maps on hold.

The state asked the high court for an administrative stay on the lower court ruling, noting Texas has an “election already in progress,” referring to congressional primary elections in March.

The Supreme Court most recently blocked lower court rulings related to redistricting cases in Louisiana and Alabama.

Texas redrew its congressional map last summer in a President Donald Trump-backed effort that could help Republicans gain five seats in next year’s midterms.

REPUBLICANS PUSH BACK OVER ‘FALSE ACCUSATIONS OF RACISM’ IN BLOCKBUSTER REDISTRICTING FIGHT

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, a Trump appointee, joined by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama, an Obama appointee, in the majority ruling said, “The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics.

“To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 map,” the judges said. “But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”

Judge Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee and the third of the three-judge panel, dissented without explanation.

REPUBLICANS PROTEST DOUBLE STANDARD AFTER JUDGES CALL TEXAS REDISTRICTING PLAN ‘RACIALLY GERRYMANDERED’

The ruling was a significant blow to the Trump administration. It comes as Trump and his Republican allies have raced to pad the party’s razor-thin House majority in the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections, including by imploring some states to launch rare, mid-decade redistricting efforts. 

Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have redrawn their congressional maps as well, and other states like Florida and Kansas are weighing similar efforts.

Democratic states are also considering redrawing their maps to counteract Republican efforts.

Most prominently, California voters approved by a wide margin earlier this month a plan to redistrict the state in an effort that could wipe out Texas’ new map.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed on Tuesday to appeal to the Supreme Court.

“For years, Democrats have engaged in partisan redistricting intended to eliminate Republican representation,” Paxton said. “But when Republicans respond in kind, Democrats rely on false accusations of racism to secure a partisan advantage.”

One man is dead, and three others were shot, including two children, after gunfire rang out Saturday afternoon in an Arizona parking lot.

The shooting, which involved a sedan and an SUV, happened at about 2:45 p.m. local time in a business parking lot in south Phoenix. 

Phoenix Police Department (PPD) Sgt. Brian Bower said during a news conference there was a dispute between the two cars, and both then pulled into the parking lot.

The dispute continued in the parking lot and a physical fight ensued, according to Bower. After the fight, shots were fired.

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The male suspect was alone in the sedan, Bower said. A man, woman and two children were in the SUV.

Police said multiple rounds were fired and all four people in the SUV were shot.

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The man in the SUV died at the scene, according to Bower. The woman and two children who were also in the SUV were taken to the hospital and remain in critical condition.

Bower said the suspect, who has not yet been publicly identified, remained at the scene until police arrived. The man was also treated at the hospital and later taken into custody.

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Police did not confirm any pending charges against the suspect, noting he was speaking with detectives.

Detectives have not yet ruled out the possibility of the incident being related to road rage or self-defense, as there is no indication the two parties knew each other, according to Bower.

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The PPD did not immediately respond to additional inquiries from Fox News Digital.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

A Texas A&M committee ruled that the university’s decision to fire a professor after a student was removed from class for objecting to a children’s literature lesson on gender identity was unjustified.

A video recorded earlier this year by a female student showed her asking Melissa McCoul, a senior lecturer in the English department, if teaching gender ideology is legal, pointing to President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at removing the subject from higher education.

The internal committee ruled that the university failed to follow proper procedures and did not prove there was good cause to terminate McCoul. The committee unanimously voted this week that “the summary dismissal of Dr. McCoul was not justified.”

The university said in a statement that interim President Tommy Williams has received the committee’s nonbinding recommendation and will make a decision after reviewing it.

TEXAS LAWMAKER SLAMS TEXAS A&M AFTER STUDENT ALLEGEDLY REMOVED FROM CLASS FOR CHALLENGING TRANSGENDER LESSON

McCoul’s lawyer, Amanda Reichek, said the dispute is likely to end up in court because the university appears to want to continue fighting, and the interim president is facing similar political pressure.

“Dr. McCoul asserts that the flimsy reasons proffered by A&M for her termination are a pretext for the University’s true motivation: capitulation to Governor Abbott’s demands,” Reichek said in a statement.

Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans had called for her firing after watching the video.

“Fire the professor who acted contrary to Texas law,” the governor wrote on X in September.

The video led to public criticism of university president Mark Welsh, who later resigned, although he did not offer a reason and never mentioned the video in his resignation announcement.

State Rep. Brian Harrison said in a statement to Fox News Digital at the time that the “liberal president of Texas A&M must be fired and all DEI and LGBTQ indoctrination defunded.”

The opening of the video posted by Harrison on social media showed a slide titled “Gender Unicorn” that noted different gender identities and expressions. 

Students in the class told The Texas Tribune that they were discussing a book called “Jude Saves the World,” which is about a middle school student who comes out as nonbinary. Several other books included in the course also touched on LGBTQ+ issues.

After a back-and-forth dispute about the legality of teaching the lessons on gender identity, McCoul asked the student to leave the class. Harrison also posted other recordings of the student’s meeting with Welsh that showed the then-university president defending McCoul’s instruction.

TEXAS A&M REGENTS DEMAND AUDIT OF ALL COURSES AFTER TRANSGENDER LESSON CONTROVERSY

Welsh said when McCoul was fired that he learned she had continued teaching content in a children’s literature course “that did not align with any reasonable expectation of standard curriculum for the course.” He also said the course content did not match its catalog descriptions.

“If we allow different course content to be taught from what is advertised, we let our students down. When it comes to our academic offerings, we must keep our word to our students and to the state of Texas,” he said in September, noting that leaders in the College of Arts and Sciences were found to have approved plans to continue teaching course content that was not consistent with the course’s published description.

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Earlier this month, the Texas A&M Regents issued a new policy stating that no academic course “will advocate race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity” unless approved in advance by a campus president.

Fox News Digital reached out to Texas A&M for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.