GALVESTON, T.X. (July 17, 2026) — Galveston voters are asking a federal court to issue judgment on the 2021 Commissioners Court precincts, which they contend are unconstitutionally discriminatory against Black and Latino residents.
On June 29, 2026, Galveston County Commissioners passed a new precinct map with little notice, significant opposition, and nearly no discussion. Voters say this new map repeats the problems of the county’s 2021 map, which is already being challenged in court as discriminatory.
The very next day, county officials asked the court to throw out that ongoing lawsuit, arguing that it is now irrelevant — or “moot” — since a new map has been passed.
The plaintiffs, local advocacy groups and individual Black and Latino voters, are pushing back. They filed a brief urging the court to continue the challenge and rule in their favor against the 2021 maps, arguing the passage of the new map doesn’t erase the original legal problem — especially when it continues the same harm to Black and Latino voters and allows it to be repeated again and again.
“If these actions are permitted to moot Plaintiffs’ claims, thereby obstructing federal court review, Defendants could simply pass new maps that slightly adjust precinct boundaries every couple of years, forever thwarting any final resolution of constitutional claims, and all while continuing to intentionally crack the County’s Black and Latino population and silence their electoral power,” the brief states.
The brief included a declaration from Edna Courville, one of the Galveston residents and plaintiffs in the case.
“I remain concerned that this fragmentation of the Black and Latino communities from the former Precinct 3 will make it more difficult for us to elect representatives who understand our needs and will advocate for our interests,” she wrote in the document. “I remain concerned that this fragmentation will make it more difficult for my community to elect anyone who understands our needs and will advocate for our interests.”
Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), and Wilkie Farr & Gallagher LLP filed a lawsuit on the plaintiffs’ behalf in April 2022. After a trial in October 2023, the judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding the 2021 enacted plan violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. A panel of the Fifth Circuit Court initially affirmed that ruling, then reheard the matter before the entire court (en banc), overruling decades of precedent to hold that the Voting Rights Act does not protect minority coalitions in choosing candidates. The current case now centers on remaining claims, not reached by the trial court in its initial order, including claims of racial gerrymandering and intentional discrimination in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
“Our clients have a First Amendment right to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” said Hilary Harris Klein, Senior Counsel for Voting Rights at SCSJ. “They have acted diligently since 2022 to do so, challenging the 2021 commissioners’ court precincts. If Defendants are rewarded with a dismissal for their egregious actions in passing yet another discriminatory plan — in an unprecedented fashion after the county’s primary elections — it signals that our constitutional protections are merely ink on a page and unenforceable. In a just society, that cannot be the result.”
“As the Supreme Court erodes the voting rights the Civil Rights Movement fought so hard for, we will see elected officials at every level of government act swiftly to further disenfranchise voters of color. We must continue to fight locally to preserve our right to fair representation. Galveston County communities have had a long and hard battle countering gerrymandered county maps, and we’re not about to stop fighting now,” said Sarah Xiyi Chen, Voting Rights Senior Supervising Attorney at TCRP.
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Southern Coalition for Social Justice came together in 2007 to give Black, Brown, and low-income people better resources in the fight for justice across the South. We are lawyers, social scientists, and communications professionals working to dismantle racism and oppression in the criminal legal system, in our environment, and at the ballot box. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
The Texas Civil Rights Project is boldly serving the movement for equality and justice in and out of the courts. We use our tools of litigation and legal advocacy to protect and advance the civil rights of everyone in Texas, and we partner with communities across the state to serve the rising movement for social justice. We undertake our work with a vision of a Texas in which all communities can thrive with dignity, justice and without fear.