Judge’s scathing dissent casts redistricting ruling as ‘judicial activism’

Federal Judge in Texas On Wednesday, he reacted to the court's decision to reject the state's redrawn map with a stunning dissent in which he hurled dozens of insults at his colleague and made repeated references to Democratic mega-donor George Soros.

“This is the most egregious display of judicial activism I have ever witnessed,” Judge Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee of the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, wrote of the 2-1 decision to throw out the card.

In a stormy 104-page tirade, he named the author of the majority opinion, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee, hundreds of times, accusing him of “pernicious judicial misconduct.”

By most accounts, it would be a “leading candidate” for the “Nobel Prize in Fiction,” Smith said.

“The big winners, according to Judge Brown, are George Soros and Gavin Newsom,” Smith said. “The obvious losers are the people of Texas and the rule of law.”

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Smith, a Yale Law School graduate, wrote that “if this had been a law school exam, his opinion would have merited a B.”

Smith disagreement came as part of a decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to temporarily block the state from using its map in the 2026 midterm elections. The map created five new Republican-leaning districts that most believed were the result of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. Republican Governor Greg Abbott has already addressed Supreme Court for relief.

Just as striking as the dissent itself, which Smith admitted was “scattered,” was that the two justices in the majority did not wait for it, handing down their decision Tuesday and leaving Smith’s dissent on the docket a day later.

“Any pretense of judicial restraint, integrity or credibility on the part of these two judges has disappeared,” Smith wrote. “If these judges were so confident in their result, they would not be so eager to render an opinion without my dissent, or they could wait until the dissent to join in. What are they really afraid of?

Brown's 2-1 opinion was joined by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama, an Obama appointee.

Hall Smith focused on Brown, saying that, “truly,” he preferred to “live in fantasyland” and practiced “forensic skills.”

The Supreme Court is now under pressure to act quickly on what has become a key election issue that could influence the outcome of next year's midterm elections. Texas requires candidates to declare their candidacy by December 8th.

The high court is already considering a similar Voting Rights Act case in Louisiana. The justices heard oral arguments in the case last month and are expected to consider a provision of the law on race that is relevant to the Texas case at regular intervals during that term.

Brown's majority opinion in Texas began with a quote from Chief Justice John Roberts, who said in an unrelated case, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discrimination on the basis of race.”

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“Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially misrepresented Map 2025,” Brown wrote.

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Brown said Ministry of Justice Civil Rights Chief Harmeet Dhillon's warning to Texas this year to address four nonwhite-majority counties because they were “coalition” counties was a directive based on race, as evidenced by Dhillon's disregard for all other Democratic-leaning counties that had white majorities. Abbott responded to Dillon by rushing to add redistricting to the legislative agenda, leading to a stunning protest that included Democratic state lawmakers who fled the state earlier this year.

“The Governor expressly directed the Legislature to implement racial redistricting,” Brown found.