Texas Redistricting Challenge (LULAC)

A pro-voting lawsuit challenging the Texas GOP’s mid-decade redistricting map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander designed to intentionally dismantle majority-minority districts.

Background

Pro-voting groups and Texas voters filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s 2021 redistricting plans drawn with 2020 census data. The complaint alleged that the state’s 2021 plans for  congressional, legislative and board of education maps based on 2020 census data intentionally dilute the voting strength of Latino communities in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The case was consolidated with eight others challenging Texas’ redistricting results, with this case being designated as the lead.

On Aug. 23, 2025, following the passage of House Bill 4 (HB 4) — Texas’s new congressional redistricting plan — the Gonzales plaintiffs filed an amended complaint challenging the map. They argue that the 2025 congressional map intentionally dilutes minority voting power by “cracking” and “packing” Black and Latino communities, violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act as well as the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The plaintiffs also argue that the plan constitutes an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Fourteenth Amendment and that the state violated the Equal Protection Clause by using racial data and pursuing partisan advantage in an unnecessary mid-decade redistricting without any legal or practical justification. They are seeking a court order to block the 2025 congressional map’s implementation.

Why It Matters

Spurred by President Donald Trump, Texas lawmakers redrew the state’s map in order to gain five additional Republican seats in Congress. Rather than waiting for the next decennial census, Texas enacted an unnecessary mid-decade overhaul to its 2021 congressional map, targeting and dismantling majority-minority districts (CD 9, 18, 29, and 33) based explicitly on racial demographics. The move is part of a broader national strategy by the GOP to maintain political power ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Latest Updates

• Oct. 1-10, 2025: Preliminary injunction hearing scheduled.
• Sept. 30, 2025: The court dismissed the Gonzales plaintiffs’ “malapportionment” claim.
• Sept. 23, 2025: Texas filed its response to the Gonzales plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction.
• Sept. 8, 2025: The court set a briefing schedule and other deadlines ahead of the preliminary injunction hearing. Texas filed a motion to dismiss the Gonzales plaintiffs’ Count IV “malapportionment” claim.
• Aug. 27, 2025: There will be a status conference to discuss the plaintiffs’ motion to schedule an expedited preliminary injunction hearing on Texas’ new congressional map.
• Aug. 26, 2025: MALC plaintiffs filed their first supplemental complaint. Texas NAACP plaintiffs filed their first supplemental complaint and motion for a preliminary injunction. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and Congressman Alexander Green filed their supplemental complaint and motion for a preliminary injunction.
• Aug. 25, 2025: The Brooks, LULAC, and MALC plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction seeking to block the use of the new congressional map for the 2026 election. LULAC plaintiffs also filed their first supplemental complaint.
• Aug. 24, 2025: The Gonzales plaintiffs filed their motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to block the use of the new congressional map for the 2026 election.
• Aug. 23, 2025: The Gonzales and Brooks plaintiffs filed their supplemental complaint challenging Texas’ 2025 congressional map.
• July 14, 2025: The court denied without prejudice the plaintiffs’ motion to reopen the trial record to question witnesses about whether they truthfully testified that they drew Texas’s congressional map blind to race. 
• July 10, 2025: The plaintiffs filed an emergency motion to reopen testimony in the case, arguing that new evidence reveals that witnesses potentially falsely testified that Texas’s congressional map was drawn without consideration of race. 
• May 21, 2025: Trial was held. 
• March 6, 2025: The DOJ dropped its claim against the state’s congressional and legislative maps. Private plaintiffs will continue their case.
• Feb. 21, 2025: The court dismissed the Fair Maps and Bacy plaintiffs’ minority-coalition claims without prejudice in light of the 5th Circuit’s ruling in Petteway v. Galveston County. 
• Nov. 21, 2022: The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the appeal.
• June 2, 2022: The Brooks plaintiffs appealed a three-judge panel’s May 4, 2022 decision denying their motion for a preliminary injunction regarding the state Senate map — specifically Senate District 10 — to the U.S. Supreme Court. 
• May 31, 2022: The U.S. Supreme Court denied the application. 
• May 21, 2022: After the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the legislators’ request to stay the case while they litigated this issue, the legislators filed an emergency application in the U.S. Supreme Court. 
• May 19, 2022: Multiple Texas legislators fought deposition subpoenas, arguing that they are protected by legislative privilege.
• Oct. 18, 2021: Plaintiffs filed their complaint.

Last updated: September 30, 2025 3:18 pm EST