{"id":45211,"date":"2025-11-19T12:39:35","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45211"},"modified":"2025-11-19T12:39:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:39:36","slug":"trump-rebuked-by-federal-ruling-against-unlawful-racial-gerrymandering-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/trump-rebuked-by-federal-ruling-against-unlawful-racial-gerrymandering-in-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Rebuked by Federal Ruling Against Unlawful Racial Gerrymandering in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Texas<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Texas Sen. Pete Flores, (R-24) looks at the proposed redistricting map as the Texas Senate prepares to take a vote on the redistricting bill passed by the Texas House of Representatives, Aug. 22, 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Sara Diggins\/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Trump-Abbott maps are clearly illegal, and I\u2019m glad these judges have blocked them,\u201d said Rep. Greg Casar.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nov 18, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a direct rebuke to President Donald Trump\u2019s hopes that mid-decade redistricting in key states could help Republicans<\/a> retain control of Congress<\/a> in next year\u2019s midterm elections<\/a>, a federal court Tuesday ordered Texas<\/a> to halt the use of its new congressional maps, redrawn earlier this year as part of a GOP<\/a> effort to maximize its advantage in the Lone Star State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unprecedented mid-decade power grab<\/a> was expected to net Republicans an extra five seats in the House, which, in tandem with other redistricting efforts in Missouri and North Carolina, may have proven critical in their efforts to blunt a blue wave by Democrats in next year\u2019s midterms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"GOP's<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

GOP\u2019s Redistricting Power Grab One Step Closer to Spectacularly Backfiring<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Trump<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump DOJ Sues California Over Redistricting Initiative<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But those efforts ran into an unexpected obstacle when Tuesday\u2019s 2-1 ruling<\/a> by a panel of three federal judges in Texas determined the maps were \u201cracially gerrymandered,\u201d disempowering nonwhite voters in violation of the Voting Rights<\/a> Act (VRA). With a preliminary injunction, the court ordered the state to instead rely on the boundaries it drew in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the majority opinion, District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, a Trump appointee, wrote that while \u201cpolitics played a role\u201d in Trump\u2019s request for Texas to redraw its maps, the White House<\/a> explicitly \u201creframed its request as a demand to redistrict congressional seats based on their racial makeup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, Brown\u2019s decision cited a claim made in a letter to Texas officials from Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights<\/a> Division, that the existence of four \u201ccoalition districts,\u201d where no racial group had a 50% majority, in the 2021 map, was \u201cunconstitutional.\u201d The DOJ threatened legal action against Texas if it did not immediately move to redraw these districts, which it promptly did at the direction of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is despite the fact that, as Brown points out, \u201cattorneys employed by the Texas Attorney General\u2014who professes to be a political ally of the Trump Administration\u2014describe the DOJ letter as \u2018legally unsound,\u2019 \u2018baseless,\u2019 \u2018erroneous,\u2019 \u2018ham-fisted,\u2019 and \u2018a mess.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe governor explicitly directed the legislature to draw a new US House<\/a> map to resolve DOJ\u2019s concerns,\u201d Brown wrote. \u201cIn other words, the governor explicitly directed the legislature to redistrict based on race. In press appearances, the governor plainly and expressly disavowed any partisan objective and instead repeatedly stated that his goal was to eliminate coalition districts and create new majority-Hispanic districts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe legislature adopted those racial objectives,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe redistricting bill\u2019s sponsors made numerous statements suggesting that they had intentionally manipulated the districts\u2019 lines to create more majority-Hispanic and majority-Black districts. The bill\u2019s sponsors\u2019 statements suggest they adopted those changes because such a map would be an easier sell than a purely partisan one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republicans will almost certainly appeal the ruling to the US Supreme Court<\/a>. But as the Texas Tribune<\/a><\/em> points out, \u201ctime is short,\u201d as \u201ccandidates only have until December 8 to file for the upcoming election,\u201d which means that the district lines must be determined before then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chad Dunn, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said: \u201cIt seems they\u2019d have a limited chance of success at the Supreme Court<\/a> because the evidence is so overwhelming. Everyone involved said they were drawing the lines on the basis of race. I don\u2019t see how the Supreme Court sets that aside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s 6-3 conservative majority has signaled<\/a> that it intends to strike down Section 2 of the VRA entirely. But that case is currently scheduled for early next year and could not be brought onto the shadow docket in time to override the ruling blocking the Texas map for 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it could have major implications for future elections, likely allowing the GOP to net over a dozen additional seats, in the near term, Trump\u2019s gambit for aggressive racial gerrymandering<\/a> may blow up in his and his party\u2019s face—at least temporarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texas\u2019 maps kicked off a retaliatory gerrymandering push by Democrats to redraw maps to their advantage in blue states. That effort culminated<\/a> in California voters\u2019 overwhelming passage earlier this month of Proposition 50, which overrode the state\u2019s independent redistricting commission and allowed the state legislature to draw maps that handed Democrats an additional five seats. Similar efforts may soon be underway in New York and Virginia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the cushion provided by Texas suddenly yanked away, Democrats now appear to be the clear winners of the gerrymandering war if things stand as they are. Instead of gaining the GOP five extra seats, Trump\u2019s gambit could end up costing it five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday\u2019s ruling is a rebuke of Texas Republicans who caved to Donald Trump<\/a> and trampled the voting rights<\/a> of their constituents,\u201d said<\/a> Adrian Shelley, the Texas director of Public Citizen<\/a>. \u201cGov. Abbott and his allies in the Legislature have forgotten their independent streak as Texans. Perhaps they can find the courage that Republicans in a few other states have to tell the president no.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Texas Democrats previously at risk of being gerrymandered out of their seats, rejoiced in the wake of Tuesday\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes Austin Reps. Greg Casar<\/a> and Lloyd Doggett, who, in anticipation of seeing their districts smushed into one, have spent the past several months engaged<\/a> in a sort of shadow primary, which resulted in Doggett saying he\u2019d retire if the maps were upheld. If Tuesday\u2019s ruling holds, both of their districts would remain intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Trump Abbott maps are clearly illegal, and I\u2019m glad these judges have blocked them,\u201d Casar said after Tuesday\u2019s ruling. \u201cIf this decision stands, I look forward to running for reelection in my current district.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he celebrated the ruling, he said, \u201cno matter what, we must fight to pass a federal ban on gerrymandering once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas Sen. Pete Flores, (R-24) looks at the proposed redistricting map as the Texas Senate prepares to take a vote on the redistricting bill passed by the Texas House of Representatives, Aug. 22, 2025.  (Sara Diggins\/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images) \u201cThe Trump-Abbott maps are clearly illegal, and I\u2019m glad… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45212,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45211\/revisions\/45212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}