Federal Court Blocks Texas from Using New “Racially Gerrymandered” Congressional Map.

In a 2-1 decision a US Federal Court has blocked Texas from using their new congressional map in next year’s midterms. Judges Jeffery Brown, a Trump appointee in 2019, and Judge David Guaderrama, an Obama appointee, both sided with the plaintiffs challenging the legality of the map, while Reagan appointee Judge Jerry Smith opposed the decision.

In his decision Judge Brown stated that challengers were “likely to prove at trial that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”

The case centered on a letter sent to Texas governor Greg Abbott by Donald Trump’s Department of Justice. In that letter Harmeet Dhillon, who Trump placed in charge of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, tried to argue that Texas’ current map, drawn after the 2020 Census, was unconstitutional and urged Governor Abbott to redistrict.

However, Judge Brown confirmed what most of us knew already, that Trump and Dhillon’s legal argument for Texas redistricting was complete and utter nonsense.

Judge Brown stated that it was “challenging to unpack the DOJ letter because it contains so many factual, legal and typographical errors,” and that the DOJ’s arguments for redistricting were “legally incorrect.” Judge Brown went on to say that Governor Abbott “explicitly directed the Legislature to redistrict based on race,” and that “even attorneys employed by the Texas Attorney General - who professes to be a political ally of the Trump Administration - describe the DOJ Letter as ‘legally unsound,’ ‘baseless,’ ‘erroneous,’ ‘ham-fisted,’ and ‘a mess.”

This ruling by the court is another victory for democracy and our Constitution.