The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily halted a lower court order that threw out Texas' redrawn congressional maps in time for next month's candidate filing deadline — as the state and its legal opponents square off on whether the maps were driven by politics or race.

Lawyers for Texas had asked the court earlier Friday to issue a stay and effectively let Texas return — at least for now — to the maps it passed over the summer, which redrew five Democratic House seats to make them more GOP-friendly.

Justice Samuel Alito granted the state's request for an administrative stay, which means the lower court ruling is now on hold until the Supreme Court takes further action.

Texas is asking the high court to stay the lower court ruling on a longer-term basis by Dec. 1, noting that

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