A federal court blocked Texas from using its redrawn congressional map for the 2026 midterm elections, ordering the map used for the 2022 and 2024 elections to be used next November.
The 2-1 ruling of the panel of two federal district judges and one circuit judge wipes away a map that would have likely given Republicans five additional seats in the House of Representatives, at least for now. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote the majority opinion, which was joined by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama, while U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith said he would file a dissenting opinion.
Brown claimed in his opinion that the case is “more than just politics” and alleged that Texas’s new map involved an unlawful racial gerrymander. He pointed to a Department of Justice letter from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon to Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), which alleged that the map passed in 2021 and used for the 2022 and 2024 elections had four districts that were unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. Brown referred to Abbott adding redistricting to the agenda of a special session for state lawmakers, specifically to resolve issues raised in the DOJ letter, as evidence that the map is a racial gerrymander.
“[T]he Governor explicitly directed the Legislature to redistrict based on race. In press appearances, the Governor plainly and expressly disavowed any partisan objective and instead repeatedly stated that his goal was to eliminate coalition districts and create new majority-Hispanic districts,” Brown, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote.
In his ruling, Brown noted that the new map dismantles multiple minority-majority, or “coalition districts,” and alleged it was done with racial considerations rather than partisan considerations.
“The map ultimately passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor—the 2025 Map—achieved all but one of the racial objectives that DOJ demanded. The Legislature dismantled and left unrecognizable not only all of the districts DOJ identified in the letter, but also several other ‘coalition districts’ around the State,” Brown said.
Texas is likely to appeal the ruling, which would then send the case to the Supreme Court. It is not immediately clear if the new maps could be restored in time for the 2026 elections.
The filing deadline for the 2026 elections in Texas is Dec. 8. Brown rejected the notion that the ruling would be disruptive to next year’s election despite the deadlines, instead placing the blame on the legislature for drawing the new maps over the summer.
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling in the coming months that could shake up how racial gerrymandering cases are dealt with in federal court. In a case challenging Louisiana’s congressional map, Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court could strike down the current Voting Rights Act precedent, which mandates the creation of minority-majority districts if a minority group is compact geographically and makes up a significant portion of the state’s population.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais could lead to another round of mid-decade redistricting in the South, after Texas began the current nationwide race to redistrict with its new map.
Earlier this month, California voters approved a new map that would likely net Democrats five seats. With Texas’s new map halted, the GOP is currently at a net loss in this cycle’s redistricting battle, especially as Indiana lawmakers punt on trying to draw the GOP up to two new seats and Virginia Democrats, emboldened by this month’s elections, set their sights on drawing more Democratic seats.
DOJ CHALLENGES CALIFORNIA’S PROP 50 MAP IN ESCALATING FIGHT OVER HOUSE MAJORITY
The DOJ has joined a lawsuit aiming to strike down the new California map, which also claims the Golden State’s maps represent an unlawful racial gerrymander.
Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House, 219-214, with control of the chamber expected to be hotly contested in next year’s elections.
