Leftist court-drawn gerrymandered maps face new review under Callais
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated lower-court rulings that upheld Washington State’s controversial leftist court-drawn legislative maps that were redrawn to favor Democrats and Democrat Latino voters, and sent the case back to the Ninth Circuit for a new review.
The order does not restore the state’s 2021 lines and does not itself declare the map unconstitutional. It requires the appeals court to reconsider the case under Louisiana v. Callais, the April 2026 SCOTUS ruling under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act that elections reflect competitive districts and voters’ will, not racial quotas. The Callais decision upheld the Constitution’s promise of color-blind redistricting and reinforced that states cannot justify drawing districts to engineer racial outcomes.
The WA state dispute began with the bipartisan state redistricting commission’s post-2020 map and resulted in a lawsuit filed in Jan. 2022. Latino voters and a coalition on behalf of the UCLA Voting Rights Project alleged that 2021 redistricting efforts somehow diluted Latino electoral influence, and that legislative maps redrawn after the 2020 census intentionally split Latino voters into several districts in the Yakima Valley region. The leftist groups said the redistricting commission created a “facade Latino opportunity district.”
Washington state initially fought back against the voting rights groups’ case, but in August 2023, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle ruled that Legislative District 15 in the Yakima Valley “cracked” Latino voters and violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Lasnik later adopted the Remedial Map on March 15, 2024.
Republican intervenors, Jose Trevino and Rep. Alex Ybarra, argued the court-drawn plan was a racial gerrymander that violated equal protection.
After SCOTUS rejected an April 2024 emergency appeal from Republicans, that new map was used in the 2024 primary and general elections and in the recent 2026 primary election. The Ninth Circuit had later affirmed the remedial map in August 2025.
The map created chaos and also re-districted Nikki Torres, a popular Republican Latino WA State Senator in the 15th District, out of her district. The new map ended up changing boundaries in 13 of the state’s 49 legislative districts.
Senator Torres called the judge’s actions a “mockery of the Voting Rights Act.” She added: “This map DISENFRANCHISES Hispanics – all to help the Democratic Party gain seats towards a supermajority in the legislature.”
As a reminder, according to Senator Torres at the time, adverse impacts against Republicans of the Lasnik map on Washington state included:
LOWERED the numbers of Hispanics from 52.6% to 50.2% (comparing LD’s 14 and 15).
Moved the first Eastern Washington Latina elected Senator – Senator Nikki Torres – from the district, which she won handily (by more than 35 points), into a new district with another incumbent Republican Senator – LD 16.
Redistricted out Sen. Curtis King (LD 14).
Redistricted out Sen. Brad Hawkins (LD 12).
Redistricted out three Republican House members.
Eliminated the Yakima Valley district that was a “toss-up” swing district (+1.8% GOP) and packed the other Yakima Valley district, which is already heavily Republican (+9.4% GOP), with more Republicans (+21.7% GOP). This allowed the “toss-up” district to become solidly Democrat (+12%).
Transformed a SW Washington district (LD 17) and another central Washington district (LD 12) into much more winnable districts for Democrats.
Created a massive disruption across the state. More than 300,000 people were moved, affecting 13 districts – 12 of which are Republican and 1 Democrat.
In comparison, the intervenors offered a map that moved around 80,000 people in only three districts. The intervenor map was rejected. Legally, maps should make only the minimal changes needed to remedy the violation.
What changed is Callais. Specifically, SCOTUS held (6-3) that compliance with Section 2 of the VRA did not justify Louisiana’s race-based second majority-Black congressional district, and that the map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The court tightened what a vote-dilution claim requires and made race-based remedial districting much harder to defend.
Republican intervenors Jose Trevino and state Rep. Alex Ybarra had asked SCOTUS to decide the case itself. Washington officials asked the court to grant, vacate, and remand so lower courts could apply that new standard first, vacating the judgments in Trevino v. Hobbs and Garcia v. Hobbs, returning them to the Ninth Circuit in light of Callais.
Attorneys for the original plaintiffs were disappointed and wanted the Supreme Court to deny the petition.
Next is reconsideration, not an automatic restoration of the 2021 map. The Lasnik remedial map stays in place unless the court changes it. The November 2026 election is unaffected.
The circuit can uphold the Lasnik lines, reverse, or send the case back to the district court. A remedy for 2028 is possible if the lower courts conclude that the Section 2 of the VRA finding or the remedial map cannot survive Callais and that the proper fix is the commission’s 2021 map, or even a completely new map.
That would reset 13 of 49 legislative districts across 12 counties, including the Yakima Valley, Tri-Cities, and parts of Clark County. All 26 House seats in those districts could appear on the 2028 ballot under the old lines or brand-new lines, along with the Senate seats scheduled that year.
A slow remand could also push any new map past 2028, and either side can take a fresh judgment back to the Supreme Court. Either way, Washington legislative maps face an uncertain future until this is all decided.
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