{"id":172092,"date":"2026-02-10T17:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T17:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/172092\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T17:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T17:09:15","slug":"gerrymandering-in-texas-and-california-has-become-a-mexican-standoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/172092\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerrymandering in Texas and California has become a Mexican standoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

With hotly contested House races on the horizon come November, the Supreme Court last week gave California Democrats the chance to pick up as many as five blue congressional seats next November. The court on its \u201cshadow docket\u201d\u00a0turned down<\/a>\u00a0a MAGA emergency application seeking to block California\u2019s Democrat-friendly congressional redistricting map.<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s unsigned order did not include a vote count or a recitation of the court\u2019s reasoning, which is the hallmark of its \u201cshadow docket\u201d decisions.\u00a0But the justices rejected an emergency request by the California Republican Party to override a federal court and block the map before the November vote. A divided three-judge panel in federal court in Los Angeles had upheld the map<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The decision is a victory for Democrats, who had devised the plan after President Trump pushed Republican-led states to move their goalposts, redrawing their own maps to help Republicans gain seats in the midterm election. His effort to have Indiana\u2019s legislature change the rules, however, failed passage<\/a> in a Republican-dominated state Senate.<\/p>\n

Trump desperately needs to preserve his congressional majority to push ahead the MAGA agenda and avoid accountability for his conduct in office. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott (R)\u00a0obediently<\/a> engineered a gerrymander of that state\u2019s congressional districts to pick up as many as five Republican House seats. The court\u2019s ruling on California\u2019s redistricting plan comes just two months after it\u00a0cleared the way for the Texas map<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Democrats in California broke out the Champagne. \u201cDonald Trump said he was \u2018entitled\u2019 to five more Congressional seats in Texas,\u201d Gov. Gavin Newsom (D)\u00a0gloated in a rub it in your eye X post<\/a>. \u201cHe started this redistricting war. He lost, and he\u2019ll lose again in November.\u201d\u00a0Trump has called the California plan\u00a0\u201cunconstitutional\u201d and a \u201cgiant scam.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

In January, Trump\u2019s lawyers weighed in with a cynical brief<\/a> supporting the state Republican Party. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the justices should treat California\u2019s map as different from the Texas map because California\u2019s map was \u201ctainted by an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sauer argued that the state\u2019s new district boundaries had been drawn to bolster Latino voters. California replied that it would be \u201cstrange\u201d to redistrict to help Latino voters and then adopt a map with the same number of majority-Latino districts.<\/p>\n

California Democrats faced allegations of racial gerrymandering, as Republicans did in Texas. However, the high court\u2019s majority appeared to conclude that politics, not race, was the driving factor in both states.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith an eye on the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, several states have in recent months redrawn their congressional districts in ways that are predicted to favor the State\u2019s dominant political party,\u201d said the court\u2019s December order in the Texas case.<\/a> \u201cTexas adopted the first new map, then California responded with its own map for the stated purpose of counteracting what Texas had done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cimpetus\u201d for adopting both states\u2019 maps was \u201cpartisan advantage pure and simple,\u201d wrote Justice Samuel Alito in a concurring\u00a0opinion<\/a> \u2014 in short, a Mexican standoff.<\/p>\n

Legal fights are still playing out over other new congressional maps, as Republican-led Florida and Democratic-led Maryland take steps to join the fray.<\/p>\n

In New York City, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R) is\u00a0appealing<\/a> a state judge\u2019s\u00a0order for a new redistricting plan<\/a> that would redraw her district in ways that could tip it into the Democrats\u2019 column.<\/p>\n

In Utah, two House Republicans filed a federal lawsuit<\/a> claiming that a new state court-selected congressional map, which could help Democrats win an additional House seat, violates the Constitution. Utah\u2019s Republican-controlled state legislature has asked the state\u2019s highest court to block that map for this year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

And in Virginia, a judge\u00a0ruled<\/a> that a proposed constitutional amendment on congressional redistricting violates state law because the process Democratic state lawmakers used to advance it was improper.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court has yet to rule on a challenge to Louisiana\u2019s voting map, but October oral arguments<\/a> hinted that the conservative majority is likely to continue undercutting the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Such a ruling could lead to new rounds of congressional gerrymandering \u2014 and the largest-ever decline<\/a> in representation by Black members of Congress.<\/p>\n

The California decision is likely to stand, at least for the forthcoming congressional election. California\u2019s primaries are in June, and the court has often invoked the \u201dPurcell principle\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 that it is loath to upset the applecart too close to the start of elections.<\/p>\n

The California ruling was released as March deadlines loomed for candidates to get on the June primary ballot. Democrats are counting on California\u2019s map to help them push back against Republican gerrymandering in Texas and other states.<\/p>\n

With rulings upholding both the Texas and California maps, the result is that the two states may essentially cancel out each other\u2019s partisan gains, and we are back to a level playing field \u2014 at least for the time being.<\/p>\n

James D. Zirin is a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and a published legal analyst.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

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