A federal court docket Tuesday struck down the brand new Republican congressional map of Texas that aimed to flip as much as 5 Democratic seats, ruling that the brand new districts quantity to unlawful racial gerrymandering aimed toward limiting the facility of Black and Latino voters.
In a shock resolution, the three-judge panel dominated 2-1 that the Lone Star State should use its earlier map within the 2026 midterms and should not use the brand new one Texas Republicans ordered up at Trump’s urging to assist keep GOP management of the Home of Representatives.
The ruling, which got here after a two-week listening to, accused Texas lawmakers of illegally redrawing the state’s district traces to cut back the power of minority voters to elect representatives of their selection.
“It was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map,” Justice Jeffrey Brown, a Galveston, Texas, district court docket choose appointed by Trump, wrote within the ruling.
An appeals court docket choose appointed by Ronald Reagan opposed the ruling whereas a Barack Obama-appointed district court docket choose agreed with Brown.
The ruling might solely be appealed on to the U.S. Supreme Courtroom. The justices on the highest court docket would seem to must act in a short time in the event that they imagine they need to overturn the ruling as a result of Texas election guidelines require candidates to file for runs by early December.
Republican State Rep. Todd Hunter debates the newly launched redistricting invoice, Home invoice 4 throughout a Home assembly within the State Capitol on August 20, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Photos)
If it stands, the ruling would quantity to an enormous political blow to Trump and his Republican allies.
Trump began an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting conflict final summer time when he ordered GOP lawmakers in Texas to redraw its map to develop its already wholesome 25-13 margin to as a lot as 30-8.
The brand new map, enacted over the bitter objections of Democrats, scrapped three blue districts within the Dallas, Houston and Austin areas by packing Democratic voters into fewer districts. It additionally added Republican areas to 2 Democratic-held districts within the Rio Grande Valley in hopes of constructing it rather more tough for the Democratic incumbents to win reelection.
Democratic State Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez debates the newly launched redistricting invoice, Home invoice 4 throughout a Home assembly within the State Capitol on August 20, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Photos)
The Texas transfer triggered comparable actions by Republicans in different crimson states, together with strikes which are probably flip one Democratic-held seat every in Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio.
Democrats struck again, most notably in California, the place voters overwhelmingly handed a measure aimed toward redrawing the deep blue Golden State’s districts to choose up 5 seats of their very own.
Virginia can also redraw its map to scrap three or 4 Republican seats after Democrats gained a crushing victory on this month’s off-year elections.
New York Democrats have additionally mentioned rejiggering the Empire State’s congressional map to develop their 19-7 edge, however no adjustments could possibly be enacted in time for the 2026 midterms.
It wasn’t instantly unclear how or if the Texas ruling might influence the politics surrounding different redistricting efforts or authorized challenges to them.
Basically, courts have dominated that racial gerrymandering is impermissible whereas the Supreme Courtroom dominated that redistricting for purely partisan political causes will not be unlawful. The justices are contemplating a separate case that would upend a key portion of the Voting Rights Act and would doubtlessly permit Republicans to scrap many Black and Latino-held districts in crimson states.
Republicans maintain solely a slender five-seat majority within the Home, which means Democrats might retake management in the event that they flip only a handful of seats. That may doubtlessly give them the facility to frustrate Trump’s aggressive right-wing coverage push in his second time period.
