A panel of three federal judges has blocked Texas new congressional district map, which the state adopted at the request of Donald Trump in order to hand more House seats over to the GOP. The judges said that the redistricting was illegally based on disenfranchising Black people.The injunction will also protect out Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX). Her district, Texas 32nd Congressional District, was redrawn from a 68% Democratic district to a 60% Republican district by removing parts of the North Texas city of Plano from it and adding more rural parts of eastern Texas. Related There are finally signs that some Democrats are growing a spine against Trump Each state is apportioned a certain number of members of Congress based on its population, and the state government must draw a map of districts for each of those members of Congress. Usually, the maps are redrawn every 10 years after a U.S. Census is completed and new information about population distribution becomes available.But the president demanded, in the middle of this decade, that Texas redraw its map this year to gerrymander it further. This means that districts would be drawn to increase the congressional advantage of one party by creating many districts with smaller Republican majorities and dumping Democrats into a few districts with large Democratic majorities. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today And because Trump demanded it, Texas Republicans drew up a new map and passed it into law.The 2-1 ruling of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas found that the map was based on political motivations and was set up to meet racial requirements set by Trumps Department of Justice (DOJ). The judges said that the DOJ targeted four districts with non-white majorities for elimination based entirely on their racial makeup.The map ultimately passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor the 2025 Map achieved all but one of the racial objectives that DOJ demanded, Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote for the 2-1 majority. Brown, a Trump appointee, was joined by Judge David Guaderrama, a Barack Obama appointee. Judge Jerry Smith, appointed by Ronald Reagan, dissented but did not write an opinion. Most of Browns 160-page opinion, according to Politico, described evidence of the motives for state legislatures and consultants and suggested that they were motivated to help the DOJ break up the districts with large populations of racial minorities.If the judges decision is not overturned, Texas will use the congressional map it used in 2024, which was already somewhat biased in favor of Republicans. 58% of Texas voters voted for a Republican in the 2024 House races, but 25 out of 38 members of Texas congressional delegation or 65% are Republicans. The new map, had it gone into effect, was expected to increase the GOP share of the delegation to 30 members, or 79%, even with only 58% of the state voting for Republicans. The injunction saves Johnsons district from being redrawn. Johnson is the first out LGBTQ+ person to be elected to Congress from the South.The fact that I was able to win a congressional seat in a state like Texas is very significant, and it shows that progress can be made,she toldLGBTQ Nationin March. We just have to be thoughtful and aggressive about putting ourselves in the arena and not be afraid.The redistricting also put LGBTQ+ ally Rep. Jasmine Crocketts (D-TX) presence in Congress at risk. She currently represents the states 30th Congressional District, but the new map would have put her home in the states 33rd Congressional District. The 30ths borders would have changed, although it was expected to remain majority Democratic and majority Black.Federal law does not require House members to live in their districts, though voters may prefer a member of Congress who actually lives in their district. Republicans denounced the judicial decision. The radical left is once again trying to undermine the will of the people, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said in a statement after the ruling. The Big Beautiful Map was entirely legal and passed for partisan purposes to better represent the political affiliations of Texas. He then accused blue states of gerrymandering to favor Democrats, apparently trying to present Republicans as unfairly maligned, even though changing congressional maps in the middle of a decade for partisan purposes is unorthodox.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.