By Lauren Burke
In a ruling signed by a federal court and signed by a Judge nominated by President Donald Trump, new congressional maps created by the Texas GOP have been blocked.
The maps were recently changed in August after President Trump publicly urged Texas Republicans to redraw the congressional maps to pick up five more GOP seats. Republicans in the Texas state legislature then took action that would help the Republican party keep control of the U.S. House majority in the 2026 midterm elections. Currently Republicans control the U.S. House by 219 members versus the Democrats 214 members. There are currently 2 vacancies.
The Texas Republican-led legislature approved the new congressional maps during a mid-decade redistricting effort and the state House passed the maps on August 20, 2025. Now that effort has been halted.
Congressman Al Green was the plaintiff in the suit that led to the court’s decision. On November 18 as he walked to a vote on the Epstein files, Congressman Green spoke to Black Press USA.
“The Texas court made the right decision. The question is will the Supreme Court do a similar thing. My belief is that if the court decides to do otherwise it will create additional confusion. I hope the Supreme Court will follow the ruling of the Texas Court,” Rep. Green said.
Trump appointee Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote in the ruling that, “to be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that there will be an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The changes to the Texas map impacted the congressional seats of three Black members of Congress: Rep. Green, Rep. Marc Veasey and Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
Texas Democrat Marc Veasey also spoke with Black Press USA on Capitol Hill.
“We won this round — obviously we have to go to the Supreme Court — that will move very quickly. We won’t have to wait long for that, it will happen very fast,” Veasey said walking through a Capitol Hill basement on his way to the House floor on November 18.
“It’s like 2011 all over again. After we won that one and there was blatant discrimination back then. This case was even more blatant. All the lies that were told on why they did redistricting,” Veasey added.
“This decision will obviously be appealed,” Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia said after hearing the news on the Texas maps. “It will go directly to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court, when it feels like it, could act on a temporary basis. They could set aside the injunction or they could let it stand. The next Supreme Court decision could be soon. They have a December 8 filing deadline,” Rep. Scott pointed out.
The decision by the Supreme Court may or may not upend plans in other states that are set to change their congressional lines in reaction to what Texas Republicans did in August.
Or perhaps not: Democrats in Virginia, Maryland and California moved swiftly to make sure they are in position to counter redrawn congressional lines by Republicans who are tipping the scale ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
