Judge denies injunction request in Tarrant County redistricting lawsuit
A federal judge based in Tarrant County denied a request to keep the old commissioners precinct map in place until the redistricting lawsuit is finished.
Judge Reed O’Conner, who presides over the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth, filed the decision on Friday, allowing the redrawn map to stay in place.
The federal lawsuit was filed against the county, the Commissioners Court and County Judge Tim O’Hare by a group of Black and Latino voters the day after the map was voted in on June 3. They claim the map disenfranchises voters and intentionally dilutes voters of color. The group filed for an injunction on June 27 reasoning that the case would go their way in the end.
The plea for a preliminary injunction was denied because the court does not agree that the plaintiffs will win the case based on the claims that the new precinct map violates the Voting Rights Act and the First, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments.
O’Conner agreed with the defendants that the violation of the First Amendment claim was unfounded and dismissed that part of the lawsuit. The plaintiffs’ claimed that the map violates the First Amendment by disenfranchising some voters and treating them unequally due to their race and viewpoint.
This lawsuit is one of two filed against Tarrant County, the commissioners court and County Judge Tim O’Hare. The other lawsuit was filed in a district court on Aug. 14 by the Texas Civil Rights Project on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Tarrant County and League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Fort Worth Council.
Last week, the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a separate request for injunction hoping to have the original map put into place temporarily before the 2026 election period begins.