A panel of three federal judges ruled Tuesday that Texas cannot use a new Republican-drawn congressional map designed to secure the GOP additional U.S. House seats in 2026. The decision dealt a setback to President Donald Trump’s broader push for GOP-led legislatures in multiple states to redraw political maps to help preserve the party’s narrow House majority.

In a sharply worded opinion, the court said that while politics influenced the 2025 map, “substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered” it in violation of federal law. The 2-1 ruling blocks Texas from using the map for now and signals that civil rights groups challenging it have a strong chance of ultimately prevailing.

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This article includes reporting by the Associ

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