"Brown went through the history of how the new Texas map was created, noting that it was done as a direct response to urging from the Trump administration, specifically a letter from Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice (DOJ) that was sent to Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that made the legally incorrect assertion that four congressional districts in Texas were unconstitutional' because they were coalition districts'majority-non-White districts in which no single racial group constituted a 50% majority and threaten[ing] legal action if Texas didn't immediately dismantle and redraw these districtsa threat based entirely on their racial makeup."
"Normally, states draw their electoral maps every decade after new Census data is released, but in the wake of President Donald Trump's reelection and the critically important 2026 midterms, he urged GOP-majority states to redraw their district lines early in order to give Republicans an advantage. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) enthusiastically embraced the idea, adding redistricting to the agenda for a special session, and the Texas Legislature created a new map earlier this year, which was swiftly challenged in court by a group of plaintiffs who argued that the new map was racially discriminatory."
"A federal judge has blocked Texas's efforts to redraw its congressional maps on Tuesday, finding that there is substantial evidence the new district lines were racially gerrymandered, and ordering the state to return to its 2021 map."
A federal court blocked Texas from implementing a newly created congressional map and ordered a return to the 2021 map. The new map was created after state leaders responded to a DOJ letter urging early redistricting to address so-called coalition districts. Plaintiffs challenged the map as racially discriminatory. Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, joined by Senior Judge David C. Guaderrama, concluded there was substantial evidence of racial gerrymandering. U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith dissented. The court noted the map's creation was tied to federal urging that relied on a legally incorrect assertion about certain districts' constitutionality.
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