2:05Texas Gov. Greg Abbott addresses reporters after signing legislation while Texas senators deliberate on a re-engineered U.S. congressional map during an extraordinary session in the Senate Chamber at the state Capitol in Austin, Texas, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)Eric Gay/AP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has filed suit challenging Texas over the newly approved congressional map championed by the legislature, asserting it effectively disadvantages voters of color and contravenes the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The complaint, which in reality supplements a prior action already pending against the state, alleges the freshly drawn plan—alongside the 2021 post-census congressional plan as well as earlier state Senate and House maps—“diminish the electoral influence of minority voters and deprive them of a fair chance to elect their preferred representatives… [and] were crafted by lawmakers and approved by the Governor with the deliberate goal of impermissibly disadvantaging voters of color,” contravening the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act.
Lodged Tuesday, the filing further maintains that the Texas legislature failed to provide adequate opportunity for public input or feedback on the configuration of the maps ultimately adopted.
“It is plainly apparent that Texas’s decision to redraw districts mid-cycle—ahead of next year’s midterm elections—has racial intent at its core. The state’s objective is to diminish the number of congresspersons representing Black constituencies, and that stands independently as unconstitutional,” NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson remarked in a statement released Tuesday.
The complaint requests, among other remedies, that a court rule the new map “was enacted with an unlawful discriminatory intent grounded in race” and prohibit the state from implementing or utilizing the boundaries detailed on the map.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks to the media following a bill signing as Texas senators debate a bill on a redrawn U.S. congressional map during a special session in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)Eric Gay/AP
During hearings and on the floor, GOP leaders supporting the plan argued the newly crafted districts were founded on past political performance and additional factors. The map has not thus far been signed into law.
The action lists Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Secretary of State Jane Nelson as defendants.
ABC News has contacted their offices for reaction to the latest filing.
Last week, the legislature approved a GOP-backed congressional map expected to tilt five districts toward Republicans—secured by consolidating Democratic strongholds in Houston, Austin, and Dallas-Fort Worth into new GOP-leaning districts and by shifting two Rio Grande Valley seats now held by Democrats into more competitive territory.
The NAACP suit is one of the initial challenges lodged against the new map. Parties in additional ongoing redistricting cases against Texas have also submitted amended pleadings alleging the new boundaries are discriminatory, the Texas Tribune reports.
On Tuesday, the NAACP further voiced support for blue states redrawing their own maps in response to Texas.
“Now, the NAACP calls upon California, New York, and every other state to act swiftly and redraw lawful, constitutional electoral maps,” the organization declared. “We must answer Texas’s unconstitutional maneuver and ensure that, whatever happens, Black Americans retain a voice in Congress.”
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
