Republicans are fighting back against a ruling by a trio of federal judges that delivered a stinging setback for President Donald Trump and the GOP in their push to redraw congressional district maps ahead of next year's midterm elections.
And Republicans are arguing that they are unfairly being accused of illegal race-based gerrymandering.
"For years, Democrats have engaged in partisan redistricting intended to eliminate Republican representation," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued on Tuesday. "But when Republicans respond in kind, Democrats rely on false accusations of racism to secure a partisan advantage."
Paxton was reacting to the ruling from the panel of three federal judges, which blocked Texas from using a new congressional map drawn by Republicans earlier this year which would have created up to five more right-leaning U.S. House districts.
The redistricting in Texas is part of a push by the president and Republicans to pad the GOP's razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.
"The public perception of this case is that it's about politics," U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, a Trump appointee, said in the majority opinion, joined by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama, an Obama appointee.
"To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 map," the judges said. "But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows...
Republicans are fighting back against a ruling by a trio of federal judges that delivered a stinging setback for President Donald Trump and the GOP in their push to redraw congressional district m...