The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for Dec. 31, 2025
By any rational measure, the Texas legislature racially gerrymandered its congressional map in 2025 to add five more GOP seats at the request of President Donald Trump. But the U.S. Supreme Court majority allowed it anyway, claiming plaintiffs hadn’t proven their case.
To get those five seats, zealous Texas legislators split Black and Hispanic communities in congressional districts for Austin, Dallas and Houston, traditionally majority-minority Black and Hispanic districts.
Since the 1960s, court precedent prohibited using race as a factor in partisan gerrymandering if it had the effect of racial discrimination. With 2024’s Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP, the court erased that precedent. In the recent Texas case, Abbott v. League of United Latin American Citizens, the lower court stated QUOTE, “substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.”
Yet despite 3,000 documents and a 160-page opinion, the high court’s conservatives said the plaintiffs had not met the court’s sky-high bar of showing INTENT to racially gerrymander, not just the effect. This included not submitting alternative maps to show how the legislature could draw the districts without racially discriminating.
This decision, in combination with the expected Louisiana v. Callais opinion, may neutralize remaining Section 2 provisions, leaving minority voters with fewer voting rights protections, and even fewer ways to fight in court.We have more at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
American Democracy Minute – Analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court’s South Carolina Gerrymandering Decision Finds Disturbing Guidance for Lower Courts
American Democracy Minute – Trump-Requested Texas Congressional District Gerrymandering Blocked by Federal Court Panel
American Democracy Minute – U.S. Supreme Court Majority Embraces Texas Redistricting, Ignores District Court Panel Racial Gerrymandering Findings
Louisiana Illuminator – Supreme Court lets Texas keep new congressional map while legal battle continues
Brennan Center for Justice – The Supreme Court Messes with Texas’s Voting Map
Groups Taking Action:
LULAC, MALDEF, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Center for American Progress
Register or Check Your Voter Registration:
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – How to Register And Vote in Your State
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