Federal judges block Texas from using its new US House map in the 2026 midterms

[MarcusGregor]

Federal judges block Texas from using its new US House map in the 2026 midterms

A panel of three federal judges has blocked Texas from using a new congressional map that Republicans drew in hopes of picking up five U.S. House seats.

apnews.com

A federal court on Tuesday blocked Texas from using a redrawn U.S. House map that touched off a nationwide redistricting battle and is a major piece of President Donald Trump’s efforts to preserve a slim Republican majority ahead of the 2026 elections.​

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The ruling is a blow to Trump’s rush to create a more favorable political landscape for Republicans in next year’s midterms, at least for now. Texas filed an appeal Tuesday evening with the U.S. Supreme Court after Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans publicly defended the map, which was engineered to give Republicans five additional House seats.​

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In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of federal judges in El Paso sided with opponents who argued that Texas’ unusual summer redrawing of congressional districts would harm Black and Hispanic residents. The decision was authored by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, a Trump nominee from the president’s first term.​

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

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Very unfortunate for Abbott and Texas Republicans. And I guess the GOP overall.

 

[Fantine]

I am glad that, in an era where Texas and other states are trying to wipe all evidence of slavery off the map, racism is being called out,

Immigrant hatred fanned the flames of racism in the 2024 campaign--and it worked.

20th century success was built with the white patriarchy, and the idea that women (after the sexual revolution) and people of different colors and ethnicities want to share the benefits and profits has them banding together to vote for people who have a vested interest in breaking all the laws--legal, ethical, and moral--to help them keep their power.

Good to know there are a few judges who haven't been replaced yet.

 

[durangodawood]

Surely the R party supreme court will step in to protect their own sooner or later.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Anything you can do, we can do legaller.
We can do anything legaller than you.

-The people of California

 

[essentialsaltes]

Some tidbits from the outvoted 5th Circuit judge

When a judge warns readers to “Fasten your seatbelts!” before a 104-page legal diatribe — best to buckle up.

[Judge Jerry] Smith, on the losing end of that 2-1 ruling, attacked the plaintiffs as tools of left-wing donors George and Alex Soros, who featured at least 17 times in the ruling.

While dissenting judges typically refer obliquely to the “majority” opinion, Smith’s relentlessly personal and withering opinion [used opinion author Judge] Brown’s name more than 360 times, often accompanied by colorful insults.

Smith lit into Brown as an “unskilled magician” who “prefers living in fantasyland.” Smith said Brown committed “pernicious judicial misbehavior” by racing to issue his opinion. Brown emphasized [this] was intended to allow Texas leaders to return to the state’s earlier congressional boundaries before a Dec. 8 deadline for candidates to declare their bids for Congress.

“Whether Judge Brown likes it, gravity exists,” Smith wrote.

Although judges typically couch their deliberations in a veil of secrecy, Smith revealed them in great detail, even quoting from the text of email exchanges with Brown as the ruling was being prepared.