Claims against the map remain and will likely be heard in Federal District Court in 2027
The U.S. Supreme Court surprised exactly no one with its ruling that the grossly racially gerrymandered Texas congressional map will be used for the 2026 elections. But it is a reminder that Greg Abbott cowardly obeyed orders from Donald Trump and threw our state into chaos for months. His actions ultimately resulted in millions of Texans losing voting rights that should be protected under our Constitution.
The ruling addresses the effort to block the map with a preliminary injunction. It does not rule definitively on the deeper claims of intentional racial gerrymandering.
Even though Democrats may win as many as three of the Republican leaning districts, the damage to minority voters across Texas will lock-in unless the map is ultimately redrawn.
The map was adopted last fall after Donald Trump ordered Governor Greg Abbott and Texas Republican legislators to redraw congressional lines to create 5 new districts that favor Republicans. It was drawn by an out-of-state political operative and systematically undermines Hispanic and Black voting strength in every region of our state.
Despite overwhelming opposition to the map by Texas citizens and a weeks-long legislative quorum break, Abbott followed Trump’s directive and crammed the new map down Texans’ throats. Several minority plaintiff groups – including the Brooks Plaintiffs supported by the Lone Star Project – sought and won a preliminary injunction from a three-judge federal district court blocking the map on racial discrimination grounds. Today’s ruling reverses the lower court’s injunction ruling but does end the case.
The evidence that Abbott and Texas legislators engaged in intentional racial gerrymandering while considering and adopting the new map is overwhelming. It is likely that plaintiffs will seek and be granted a trial to consider all evidence against the map sometime in 2027. Ultimately, the resolution of the Texas case will be less about whether racial discrimination occurred than whether federal courts will continue to consider intentional racial discrimination a violation of law.
