Overview
- After a nearly two-week trial in El Paso, a three-judge panel granted a preliminary injunction and said plaintiffs are likely to prove racial gerrymandering.
- Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote the majority opinion joined by Judge David Guaderrama, while Judge Jerry Smith dissented.
- The ruling requires Texas to use its 2021 congressional districts for the 2026 elections, as candidate filing is underway ahead of a Dec. 8 deadline.
- The court cited substantial evidence that the 2025 map diluted Black and Hispanic voting power, including findings about race-based directives tied to an earlier Justice Department letter.
- Republicans had drawn the 2025 map to add roughly five GOP-leaning seats, a key part of a broader national redistricting push that Texas is now poised to defend at the U.S. Supreme Court.