Overview
- An El Paso-based three-judge panel barred Texas from using its newly redrawn map for the 2026 midterms, with Judge Jeffrey V. Brown writing the majority joined by Judge David C. Guaderrama and Judge Jerry E. Smith dissenting.
- The opinion found substantial evidence that race drove the redraw, citing a July DOJ letter and Governor Greg Abbott’s directives, while calling the DOJ’s legal claim about coalition districts incorrect yet still evidence of race-based line-drawing.
- The injunction blocks the August map that targeted five Democratic-held seats and was designed to give Republicans up to five additional U.S. House seats, ordering use of the 2021 map instead.
- Civil rights groups representing Black and Hispanic voters sued over vote dilution, and after a nearly two‑week trial the court granted a preliminary injunction requiring 2026 elections to proceed under the prior lines.
- Texas leaders said they will appeal directly to the Supreme Court as a Dec. 8 candidate filing deadline approaches, with related redistricting battles continuing in states including California, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio and Florida.