A panel of judges blocked Texas from using a new congressional map.
“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics,” U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown wrote for the 2-1 opinion.
“To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 map,” the decision read. “But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton condemned the decision, declaring he will file an appeal to the Supreme Court. “The radical left is once again trying to undermine the will of the people. The Big Beautiful Map was entirely legal and passed for partisan purposes to better represent the political affiliations of Texas.”
“For years, Democrats have engaged in partisan redistricting intended to eliminate Republican representation. Democratic states across the country, from California to Illinois to New York, have systematically reduced representation of Republican voters in their congressional delegations,” he said. “But when Republicans respond in kind, Democrats rely on false accusations of racism to secure a partisan advantage. I will be appealing this decision to the Supreme Court of the United States, and I fully expect the Court to uphold Texas’s sovereign right to engage in partisan redistricting.”
President Trump celebrated the map’s passage in August, calling it a “Big WIN for the Great State of Texas!!!”
“Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself. Texas never lets us down,” he wrote.
