The lawsuit alleges that maps recently passed by the Texas legislature are illegal and intentionally discriminate against majority minority districts to dilute their political power.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Texas NAACP, represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in their ongoing lawsuit against the state of Texas, challenging its recently passed congressional maps for illegal, racial gerrymandering. The maps bulldoze important majority-minority districts and dilute the ability for Black and Brown communities to pick their political representation fairly.
The Texas NAACP and Lawyers’ Committee originally filed the case in 2021 regarding Texas’ redistricting plan for Congress, as well as the state Senate and House, arguing that multiple districts at all levels—principally in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston areas—intentionally discriminate against people of color.
In July of this year, the Department of Justice sent Texas Governor Greg Abbott a letter arguing that four Democratic districts—three of them coalition, or synonymously, majority-minority districts—were racially gerrymandered and that the Fifth Circuit had declared coalition districts unconstitutional. While this was a misstatement and blatant misinterpretation of the law, it still instructed Texas to redraw its maps, and Governor Abbott obliged by adding redistricting to the legislative agenda, claiming the state no longer needed coalition districts.
Now, with the passage of the new maps, the Texas Legislature doubles down on its original gerrymander, seeking to dismantle majority Black and Brown communities and weaken their political power for the years to come, and critically, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“Racial gerrymandering is not a new tactic in Texas’ playbook. The only difference this time is the racism is partially masquerading as partisanship. These maps take things from bad to worse, amplifying the profound injustice already experienced by Black communities and other communities of color in Texas who are simply seeking a voice and representation in politics and in their own futures,” said Damon T. Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “The Trump administration told Texas in no uncertain terms to create illegal, discriminatory maps, and Texas actively carried out the mandate. This is an intentionally harmful and discriminatory effort, and we must call it out as such. Black and Brown voters in Texas deserve better. They are legally and constitutionally entitled to fair representation. These maps do the opposite, and they must not stand.”
We are suing for an injunction because the new plan discriminates against minorities.
“The state of Texas is only 40 percent white, but white voters control over 73 percent of the state’s congressional seats,” said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP. “It’s quite obvious that Texas’s effort to redistrict mid-decade, before next year’s midterm elections, is racially motivated. The state’s intent here is to reduce the members of Congress who represent Black communities, and that, in and of itself, is unconstitutional.”
“We now see just how far extremist leaders are willing to go to push African Americans back toward a time when we were denied full personhood and equal rights,” said NAACP Texas President Gary Bledsoe. “We call on Texans of every background to recognize the dangers of this moment. Our democracy depends on ensuring that every person is counted fully, valued equally, and represented fairly. We are prepared to fight this injustice at every level. Our future depends on it.”
As part of the ongoing case led by a coalition of organizations, including the Texas NAACP and Lawyers’ Committee, the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in El Paso will hold a hearing on Wednesday, August 27, to consider the schedule for litigation concerning Texas’ redistricting efforts.
Read the motion for a preliminary injunction here.
Read the supplemental complaint here.
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About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. The Lawyers’ Committee implements its mission and objectives by marshaling the pro bono resources of the bar for litigation, public policy, advocacy and other forms of service by lawyers to the cause of civil rights. The Lawyers’ Committee convenes the national, nonpartisan Election Protection Coalition, which administers the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline.
