Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, who was appointed to a three-judge U.S. District Court panel hearing the case, said the 2–1 majority opinion of Nov. 18 invalidating the map was the "most blatant exercise of judicial activism that I have ever witnessed."

The majority opinion "has dramatic political consequences by meddling in the orderly processes of a duly-elected state government," he said.

"The main winners from Judge [Jeffrey V.] Brown's opinion are George Soros and Gavin Newsom. The obvious losers are the People of Texas and the Rule of Law," Smith said.

Soros is a high-profile financier and billionaire philanthropist known for heavily funding Democratic Party candidates and progressive nonprofits. Newsom, a Democrat, is the governor of California, who recently championed Proposition 50, a statewide redistricting referendum approved by voters on Nov. 4 that was designed to reduce Republican representation in his state's congressional delegation. Newsom said the referendum was called to counteract the Texas redistricting that favors Republicans. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing to block the California redistricting plan.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown wrote the majority opinion in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Abbott. U.S. District Judge David C. Guaderrama joined it.

Brown said the state may not use the new map because "substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map."

Gerrymandering refers to the manipulation of electoral district boundaries to benefit a particular party or constituency. The Supreme Court has previously ruled that race-based gerrymandering violates the U.S. Constitution, but redrawing boundaries to boost partisan fortunes passes constitutional muster.

In the majority opinion, Brown said that earlier this year, President Donald Trump urged Texas to redraw its map for U.S. House of Representatives elections "to create five additional Republican seats."

When the Trump administration characterized its request "as a demand to redistrict congressional seats based on their racial makeup, Texas lawmakers immediately jumped on board," Brown said.