Three-Judge Texas Federal Court Panel Rules Texas Congressional Map Unconstitutional Racial Gerrymander
“The map ultimately passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor — the 2025 Map — achieved all but one of the racial objectives that DOJ demanded,” U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Galveston-based Trump appointee, wrote for the panel majority.
...The majority repeatedly derided the Justice Department’s effort to goad Texas into targeting the four districts with non-white majorities — known as “coalition districts.” That effort, Brown said, began on July 7, with a letter from DOJ’s Civil Rights Division that was “challenging to unpack … because it contains so many factual, legal, and typographical errors.”
According to the court, the letter selected the four districts “based entirely on their racial makeup” and was the key factor...The bulk of Brown’s 160-page opinion delves into the mindset of the state lawmakers and advisers... motives clearly aligned with DOJ’s race-based push
...their characterization of the new maps as based only on race-blind partisanship were not believable.
