"Federal judges in the US on Tuesday blocked Texas from using a new congressional map intended to flip several Democratic-held seats in the US House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress, to Republican control in next year's midterm elections. Texas Governor Greg Abbott had signed the new map into law on August 29, following an acrimonious voting process and amid retalliatory plans in California (a Democrat-held state of similar stature in the west of the US) to redraw congressional voting lines there."
"Voting district lines are regularly redrawn in US politics, typically once every 10 years with a view to ensuring that each district has roughly equal population figures. This readjustment was set to take place just four years after the last rather than 10. The process is inherently political, and the US political and legal system even tolerates so-called gerrymandering that aims to divide up voters and regions in such a way as to favor a dominant party."
"The Supreme Court does not, however, tolerate gerrymandering that it deems to be racially motivated, saying that this violates the US Constitution. District Judge Jeffrey Brown made reference to this while striking down the plans, saying the "public perception" of the case was that the changes were about politics. "To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map," Brown said. "But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.""
Federal judges blocked Texas from using a new congressional map intended to flip several Democratic-held US House seats to Republican control in next year's midterm elections. Governor Greg Abbott signed the map into law on August 29 after an acrimonious voting process and amid retalliatory plans in California. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas' 38 House seats under a map drawn in 2021. The verdict is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court, which is broadly seen as having a Conservative majority. District Judge Jeffrey Brown said substantial evidence showed Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map. Voting lines are normally redrawn every ten years; this readjustment occurred four years after the last.
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