By Jan Wolfe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge issued an unusual dissenting opinion on Wednesday lambasting an earlier ruling that blocked Texas Republicans from using a new congressional map, saying he had been cut out of the decision-making process by two other judges on a three-judge panel.
U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith said in his dissent that he was outraged by Tuesday’s decision, which was a major blow for Republicans, in Texas and nationally, who redrew the state’s electoral districts at the behest of President Donald Trump.
Smith, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, was one of three federal judges who conducted a non-jury trial last month to determine if the Texas map unlawfully sorted voters based on their race, as civil rights groups have alleged.
The other two judges on the panel, Jeffrey V. Brown and David Guaderrama, on Tuesday issued their majority opinion, which said the Texas map was likely unlawful and should be blocked from taking effect. They noted that Smith had cast a dissenting vote, and said that because of the need to move quickly his dissenting opinion would be published at a later date.
Brown was appointed by Trump. Guaderrama was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
“Judges in the majority don’t get to tell a dissenting judge or judges that they can’t participate,” Smith wrote.
Smith went on the criticize the majority opinion’s legal reasoning, asserting: “If this were a law school exam, the opinion would deserve an ‘F.'”
The 2-1 ruling imperiled a Republican effort to redraw boundaries of state congressional districts to maximize the number of Republicans who could be elected and protect the party’s narrow U.S. House majority.
Tuesday’s ruling found that Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, “explicitly directed the Legislature to redistrict based on race,” after receiving a letter from Trump’s Justice Department threatening legal action if the state did not come up with a new map.
Abbott has said he is appealing the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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