Ian Millhiser of Vox wrote about the stunning decision by a Federal Appeals Court to throw out Texas’ gerrymander. At Trump’s insistence, the Governor and legislature districted the state’s Congressional districts, in hopes of producing five more Republican seats. Trump and Republican House leaders are terrified that they could lose their slim majority.
Millhiser points out the supreme irony that it was Trump’s own Justice Departnent that provided the grounds to toss the redistricting. The Supreme Ciurt recently ruled that it would not interfere with gerrymanders, a strictly political decision. But gerrymandering for the specific purpose of reducing racial representation is unconstitutional. Unless the Supreme Court abandons its recent precedent and do Trump a big favor.
In a decision that could potentially reshape the 2026 midterm elections and cement the Democratic Party’s future control of the US House, a federal court just struck down the gerrymandered Texas maps that President Donald Trump pressured that state to enact. If the decision holds, it could cost Republicans as many as five House seats.
And that’s not all. The most remarkable thing about the three-judge panel’s decision in League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) v. Abbott is that it turns on an incompetent decision by Trump’s own administration.
As Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee, explains in the court’s opinion, Texas lawmakers initially “didn’t have much appetite to redistrict on purely partisan grounds” — even as Trump urged them to do so. But Texas Republicans appear to have changed their mind after the Justice Department sent a letter last July to Texas’s top officials, which demanded that the state redraw several districts to change their racial makeup.
That letter, as I’ll explain in more detail below, misread a federal appeals court opinion to mean that the state was required to remake its maps. According to Judge Brown’s opinion, “it’s challenging to unpack the DOJ Letter because it contains so many factual, legal, and typographical errors.” He added that “even attorneys employed by the Texas Attorney General — who professes to be a political ally of the Trump Administration — describe the DOJ Letter as ‘legally[] unsound,’ ‘baseless,’ ‘erroneous,’ ‘ham-fisted,’ and ‘a mess.’”
In reality, the Supreme Court has long held that “if a legislature gives race a predominant role in redistricting decisions, the resulting map” is subject to the most skeptical level of constitutional review and “may be held unconstitutional.” When the Justice Department told Texas to redraw several of its congressional districts to change their racial makeup, it ordered Texas to give “race a predominant role.” Oops.
Please open the link to finish the article.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is there any doubt that Roberts who cut his teeth on reversing voting rights under Reagan will gut what remains of the Voting Rights Act
LikeLike
It seems obvious that the goal of the Republican Party under Trump is to destroy the possibility of any opposition party ever gaining power. Republicans, however, that understand the growth of opposition power are looking down the road a greater distance. Would a further gutting of the Voting Rights Act serve the greater goal of securing the house? Surely some of them are looking at the rest of world, especially Canada, whose lurch toward the left caught the American Right by total surprise. The world reaction to Trump has its support in the American mind as well. The election of Mondami is just one example of a rising opposition to the dismantling of American institutions. Even red Tennessee with its gerrymandered district in special election is now showing polling that is much closer than anyone might anticipate.
So what are we to make of this? It is hard to say, but change is in the air, and ten year cycles are a characteristic of American politics. As far back as the Democratic Party birth under Jackson, voters seemed unwilling to rubber stamp one party for more than a decade. In more recent times, the Regan popularity did not seem to reach into the Bush I presidency. Even in the post Civil War Republican dominance, the election of Democrats punctuated the voting habits of the country.
What we have now is substantially different from the past, with modern Republicans suggesting that we go back to a future of Jim Crow and white male dominance (think Hegseth). But voting patterns suggest it is time for a change.
LikeLike
Definitely a ray of hope, here. If not a temporary welcome parting of the clouds.
How will this affect California’s redistricting plans? And other states, both red and blue? Trump really let the genie out of the bottle with this one.
LikeLike