Texas cannot use its newly drawn congressional districts in the 2026 election, a three-judge federal panel ruled Tuesday, a major blow to Republicans who made the changes at the behest of President Donald Trump to carve out more GOP-friendly seats and protect the party’s fragile majority.

State officials are expected to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

In a 2-1 decision, the judges found that lawmakers likely engaged in unconstitutional racial gerrymandering when they dismantled “coalition districts” across the state and replaced them with single-race-majority districts.

The court ruled that race, not partisanship, was the state Legislature’s predominant motive, driven by pressure from Trump and a July 2025 DOJ letter that incorrectly claimed certain coalition districts w

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