Washington, D.C. — Today, after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for lawmakers in Texas to use newly redrawn congressional maps that are explicitly intended to favor Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections, Ben Olinsky, senior vice president of Structural Reform and Governance at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
The Supreme Court today effectively greenlit discriminatory, racially gerrymandered maps in Texas that will cheat people, especially Black and Latino communities, out of their rightful voice in holding elected officials accountable during the 2026 midterms. As Justice Elena Kagan noted in her dissent, the Supreme Court is violating its own precedent about the use of race in redistricting, and is effectively encouraging it.
This blatantly wrong decision flies in the face of both our nation’s anti-discrimination laws and our democratic principles of equal representation. Even a Trump-appointed Texas federal judge agreed when he struck down the new maps last month. This activist Supreme Court majority continues to give the president and his allies license to run roughshod over the Constitution and our democracy. Texans deserve fair congressional maps and the ability to make their voices heard.
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