Overview
- An El Paso-based three-judge panel ruled 2–1 to enjoin Texas’s new map, with Judges Jeffrey V. Brown and David C. Guaderrama in the majority and Judge Jerry E. Smith dissenting.
- The order requires Texas to use its 2021 congressional map for 2026, following a nearly two-week October hearing and ahead of fast-approaching candidate filing deadlines.
- The majority opinion cited a July Justice Department letter and Gov. Greg Abbott’s directives as evidence that race, not just partisanship, drove the mid‑decade redraw.
- The GOP-drawn 2025 plan was designed to flip up to five Democratic-held seats by reshaping districts in South Texas, Houston, Dallas and Austin, a shift with implications for the House’s narrow balance.
- Texas officials, including Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, said they will appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court as parallel redistricting battles continue in states such as California, Missouri and North Carolina.