Federal judge instructed state to use older maps, with Republicans likely to appeal decision
New maps that added five Republican districts in Texas hit a legal roadblock on Tuesday, with a federal judge saying the state cannot use the 2025 maps because they are probably “racially gerrymandered”.
The decision is likely to be appealed, given the push for more Republican-friendly congressional maps nationwide and Donald Trump’s full-court press on his party to make them. Some states have followed suit, and some Democratic states have retaliated, pushing to add more blue seats to counteract Republicans.
A panel of three federal judges in Texas said in a decision that the state must use previously approved 2021 maps for next year’s midterms rather than the ones that kickstarted a wave of mid-decade redistricting. The plaintiffs, including the League of United Latin American Citizens, are “likely to prove at trial that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map”, so the court approved a preliminary injunction to stop the map’s use for next year’s elections.
Now Illinois, Minnesota, and New York should step up.
Red states have been shamelessly gerrymandering for so long, that they have very few options for improvement left. The only reason they see a window now is because SCOTUS has shown a willingness to accept race-based suppression, which they wouldn’t before. But they been so close for so long, that their moves are still limited.
But Dems have remained stupidly committed to fair play all along, despite it not being returned. So they have lots of potential to gain some seats and deny other seats to MAGA, and the Dems should exploit that potential RUTHLESSLY. The MAGAs surely would, if the courts would let them. Why should the Dems protect MAGAs from themselves, especially since THEY started it? This was a fight they started, and Ds should finish it, Ender-style.