Court confirms plaintiff’s claims of illegal racial discrimination
In a two to one decision, the Three-Judge Federal District Court in El Paso with jurisdiction over Texas redistricting has issued a preliminary injunction blocking use of the mid-decade congressional redistricting map adopted by Greg Abbott and Republican state legislators.
The Court agreed with plaintiff claims that the map violates the Constitutional rights of Black and Hispanic Texans in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments. The ruling reads in part:
“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics. To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.”
The complete ruling can be read here.
The illegal map was adopted in August following orders from Donald Trump who demanded that Abbott and the legislature intentionally dismantle majority minority districts and deliver him five new Republican seats. Abbott cowardly complied and ordered a special legislative session where Texas Republican Legislative leaders also rolled over for Trump and adopted a discriminatory map that blatantly violates the constitutional rights of Black and Hispanic voters in every region of Texas.
Public opposition to the new map was immediate, widespread, and intense. Large anti-gerrymandering public demonstrations were launched. Formal comments to the Legislature were over 90 percent in opposition. And, the Texas State House Democratic Caucus launched a heroic quorum break that delayed the gerrymandering process more than a month. This provided time for opposition to organize forcing Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Republican Legislators to expose their racially discriminatory intent.
It is certain that Paxton, will appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court asking that the District Court’s decision be stayed. In the meantime, however, the racist Trump/Abbott map is blocked and the boundaries adopted during the regular redistricting process in 2021 are back in effect.
Commenting on the Three-Judge Court’s ruling, Lone Star Project Director, Matt Angle, said, “The Court heard the evidence and made the right call. The Trump/Abbott map is a hostile attack on Black, Hispanic, and other minority Texans, and it is an insult to every Texan. Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, and the Republicans leading our State Legislature have shamefully demonstrated that racists and cowards often occupy the same bodies.”
