Texas cannot use its newly drawn congressional districts in the 2026 election, a three-judge federal panel ruled Tuesday, a major blow to Republicans who made the changes at the behest of President Donald Trump to carve out more GOP-friendly seats and protect the party’s fragile majority.
State officials are expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
In a 2-1 decision, the judges found that lawmakers likely engaged in unconstitutional racial gerrymandering when they dismantled “coalition districts” across the state and replaced them with single-race-majority districts.