Federal court blocks Texas districts

Ruling that the GOP's map employed racial gerrymandering is a blow to Trump's plans.

- BY MICHAEL WILNER

ERIC GAY Associated Press.

TEXAS GOV. Greg Abbott vowed the state will appeal a ruling blocking the map.

WASHINGTON - A federal court on Tuesday blocked Texas from moving forward with its new congressional map, hastily drawn in hopes of netting up to five additional Republican seats and securing the U.S. House for the GOP in next year's midterm elections.

The ruling is a major political blow to the Trump administration, which set off a redistricting arms race throughout the country earlier this year by encouraging Texas lawmakers to redraw the state's congressional district boundaries mid-decade - an extraordinary move bucking traditional practice.

The three-judge federal court panel in El Paso said in a 2-1 decision that "substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map," ordering the state to revert to the maps it had drawn in 2021.

Texas' Republican governor, Greg Abbott, who at Trump's behest directed GOP state lawmakers to proceed with the plan, vowed on Tuesday that the state would appeal the ruling all the way to the Supreme Court.

Californians responded to Texas' attempted move by voting on Nov. 4 to approve a new, temporary congressional map for the state, giving Democrats the opportunity to pick up five new seats.

Initially, the proposal pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, known as Proposition 50, had trigger language that would have conditioned new California maps going into effect based on whether Texas approved its new congressional districts.