The possibility of Texas and other like-minded states redistricting their congressional districts has captured national political attention. Gerrymandering has been a long-term controversy among the various states. Courts have also tried to exert their own political imprint upon the process.

There is, however, a looming possibility involving the Lone Star State that is not often discussed, but could have far larger political consequences.

When Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845, one of the unusual concessions was a condition that allows the state to split into additional states. So even though Democrats have heralded the possibility of adding the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico as states in order to increase the number of Democrats in Congress. Few Texans realize that they have an exceptional power that could more radically reshape American politics than any amount of House redistricting.

John “Cactus Jack” Garner — vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1941 and former Speaker of the House —

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