26 ALEXANDER v. SOUTH CAROLINA STATE CONFERENCE OF THE NAACP THOMAS, J., concurring in part dissenting in part) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); see also Ex Parte Young, 209 U. S. 123 (1908). The Court has “long held that federal courts may in some circumstances grant injunctive relief against state officers who are violating, or planning to violate, federal law.” Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center, Inc., 575 U. S. 320, 326 (2015). But, a negative-injunction remedy does not actually redress racial gerrymandering or vote dilution, for two reasons. First, it is not apparent that an Ex parte Young injunction can prevent a state election official from conducting an election under an unconstitutional map, or force him to draw a new map. Such an injunction “permits a party to assert in equity a defense that would otherwise have been available in the State’s enforcement proceedings at law,” and it “extends no further than permitting private parties in some circumstances to prevent state officials from bringing an action to enforce a state law that is contrary to federal law.” Whole Woman’s Health, 595 U. S., at 53 (opinion of THOMAS, J.) (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted). It is thus not clear that such an injunction could stop an election. Second, even if it is possible to enjoin state officials from conducting an election, it is questionable whether that remedy is ever “equitable.” Our system of government depends on regular elections; putting elections indefinitely on hold may do more harm than good. Cf. Baker, 369 U. S., at 327 (opinion of Frankfurter, J.) (“An injunction restraining a general election unless the legislature reapportions would paralyze the critical centers of a State’s political system and threaten political dislocation whose consequences are not foreseeable”). Ultimately, to remedy racial gerrymandering or vote dilution, someone must draw a new map. I can find no explanation why that “someone” can be a federal court.