Texas Appeals Ruling on Trump-Urged Voting Map, Headed to Supreme Court

Texas officials reported that Governor Greg Abbott has quickly appealed to the Supreme Court a ruling that the redistricting passed by lawmakers at the urging of President Trump violates the voting rights of minority communities. The appeal was made in response to a three-judge panel's decision earlier this week to place a temporary block on the map and order the state to use the district maps from the last two elections. According to the ruling, the map that was overruled had been drawn to give Republicans an advantage in flipping as many as 10 Democratic-held seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The decision was made after a 10-day hearing, during which the plaintiffs argued that the map was an example of racial gerrymandering, a practice in which electoral districts are drawn to dilute the voting power of minority communities. "This ruling is clearly erroneous and undermines the authority the U.S. Constitution assigns to the Texas Legislature by imposing a different map by judicial edict," Abbott said in a statement. "Any claim that these maps are discriminatory is absurd and unsupported by the testimony offered during ten days of hearings." The ruling was made by a three-judge panel in a federal court in Washington, D.C. The panel's decision was based on a lawsuit filed by a coalition of voting rights groups and Democratic lawmakers, who argued that the map was an attempt to suppress the voting power of minority communities. The redistricting process in Texas has been a contentious issue, with both parties vying for control of the state's electoral districts. The map that was passed by lawmakers this summer was drawn with the input of President Trump, who has been a vocal supporter of Republican efforts to gain an advantage in the state's electoral districts. The appeal to the Supreme Court is the latest development in a long-standing debate over the use of racial gerrymandering in the United States. The practice has been the subject of numerous lawsuits and court decisions, with the Supreme Court issuing several rulings on the issue in recent years. The current status of the case is that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal, with a decision expected in the coming months. In the meantime, the state of Texas is required to use the district maps from the last two elections, which were drawn before the passage of the new map. The outcome of the appeal is likely to have significant implications for the state's electoral landscape, with the potential to impact the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives. The case is also likely to have broader implications for the use of racial gerrymandering in the United States, with the Supreme Court's decision potentially setting a precedent for future cases.