"A panel of federal judges has ruled that Texas's newly redrawn congressional districts cannot be used in next year's 2026 midterm elections, striking a blow to Republican efforts to tilt races in their favour. On Tuesday, a two-to-one majority at the US District Court for western Texas blocked the map, on the basis that there was substantial evidence to show that Texas racially gerrymandered the districts."
"Partisan gerrymandering has generally been considered legal under court precedent, but dividing congressional maps along racial lines is considered a violation of the US Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 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, the court's majority wrote in the opening of its 160-page opinion."
"The ruling marked a major setback to efforts to redraw congressional districts ahead of the critically important midterms, which decide the composition of the US Congress. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be up for grabs in that election. With Republicans holding a narrow 219-seat majority, analysts speculate that control of the chamber could potentially switch parties."
A federal panel found that Texas's newly redrawn congressional districts used race to redraw districts and barred the map from use in the 2026 midterm elections. The judges concluded there was substantial evidence of racial gerrymandering. Partisan gerrymandering is generally permitted under precedent, but separating districts along racial lines violates the US Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The decision represents a major setback to Republican efforts to reshape the House ahead of elections for all 435 seats. The Texas legislature passed the contested map in August after reports of federal outreach and despite Democratic walkouts, inspiring similar moves in other states.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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