Texas Redistricting: LULAC v. Abbott
Case Summary
In 2021, the Texas government gerrymandered the state to muffle the voting power of the state’s growing Latino population, and now in 2025 the government has pushed its racial gerrymander even further. LULAC has filed suit to block both gerrymanders and restore a Texas map which gives the state’s Latino citizens their right to representation.
“Texas cannot continue to ignore the reality that Latino families are the future of this state,” said Roman Palomares, LULAC National President and Chairman of the Board. “Redistricting should be a process of fair representation, not political exclusion. Time and again, Texas has resorted to racial gerrymandering, suppressing the voice of our community. This issue concerns not just maps but power, dignity, and equal protection under the law. LULAC will not stand by while our rights are packed into a corner or cracked into pieces. Every vote must count the same—whether cast by a Latino voter in Harris County or an Anglo voter in the Panhandle. We believe in encouraging civic participation, not erasing it.”
Texas’s government has long worked to dilute the Latino vote. During the 2010s, the Texas government repeatedly proposed maps based on racial gerrymandering. The Supreme Court declared those maps unconstitutional and redrew them to give Latino voters a voice.
After the 2020 census, Gov. Abbott convened the legislature for a special session and proposed a new discriminatory map. Even though the state’s Latino population had grown far more than the Anglo population—the state had two million more Latino voters and less than two hundred thousand new Anglo voters—Gov. Abbott’s new map actually decreased the number of majority-Latino districts. LULAC swiftly filed suit to block the new map.
As LULAC fought Gov. Abbott’s first new map in court, Gov. Abbott convened a second special session in 2025 to racially gerrymander the state even further. After forcing the lawmakers into his special session by threats of fines and arrests, Gov. Abbott has rammed through his new map. LULAC went back to court and is now trying to persuade the judge to block this new map from going into effect.
Litigation
Case Type: Voting Rights
Location: Texas
Legal Documents
03/31/2025 Complaint
04/24/25 Trying to Block the New Map
Press Releases
May 21, 2025 LULAC Federal Case Begins Challenging Texas Redistricting that Dilutes Voter Power of Latinos and Blacks
In the News
August 19, 2025, Houston Chronicle
Plaintiffs Fighting Texas' Last Redistricting Effort Push to Block New Maps
The League of United Latin American Citizens and several other groups representing minority voters are asking a federal court to set aside time in September for a hearing on whether to block the new congressional map that state lawmakers are likely to pass this week.
August 20, 2025, The New York Times
Texas House Approves Redistricting Map, Just as Trump Wanted
The State Senate will vote Thursday on a congressional map intended to help the G.O.P. win five more U.S. House seats. California Democrats will counter on the same day.
June 13, 2023, Texas Tribune
Where Texas Redistricting Lawsuits Stand After U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Alabama Case
The state faces an assortment of legal challenges to its congressional and statehouse maps, including allegations of intentional discrimination, vote dilution and racial gerrymandering.