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SCOTUS allows Texas to use Trump-pushed redrawn congressional redistricting map favoring Republicans
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The Supreme Court signaled that Texas is likely to prevail in defending its new congressional map, faulting a lower court for misreading evidence and ignoring required legal inferences as the state races toward 2026 election deadlines.
In a brief order that keeps Gov. Greg Abbott’s redrawn districts in place for now, the court said the district court committed two major errors by failing to apply the presumption of legislative good faith when considering disputed evidence and by declining to draw a near-dispositive inference against challengers who offered no alternative map that met Texas’s partisan goals.
The stay is temporary while the merits proceed, yet Justice Elena Kagan warned in dissent that the ruling effectively locks in the contested boundaries for the 2026 midterms because of looming state deadlines.
«This Court’s eagerness to playact a district court here has serious consequences,» Kagan said. «The majority calls its ‘evaluation’ of this case ‘preliminary.’ The results, though, will be anything but.
DOJ BACKS TEXAS IN SUPREME COURT FIGHT OVER REPUBLICAN-DRAWN MAP
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrote a letter Jan. 30 directing state agency heads to follow state and federal law surrounding gender issues. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
«This Court’s stay guarantees that Texas’s new map, with all its enhanced partisan advantage, will govern next year’s elections for the House of Representatives. And this Court’s stay ensures that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race,» Kagan continued. «And that result, as this Court has pronounced year in and year out, is a violation of the Constitution.»
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin condemned the ruling as a moral and legal failure that rewards partisan manipulation while undermining voters across Texas.
«Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to allow Texas Republicans’ rigged, racially gerrymandered maps to go into effect is wrong — both morally and legally,» Martin said.
«Once again, the Supreme Court gave Trump exactly what he wanted: a rigged map to help Republicans avoid accountability in the midterms for turning their backs on the American people. But it will backfire.
«Texas Democrats fought every step of the way against these unlawful, rigged congressional maps and sparked a national movement. Democrats are fighting back, responding in kind to even the playing field across the country. Republicans are about to be taught one valuable lesson: Don’t mess with Texas voters. The DNC stands committed to building power in Texas, no matter the maps in play, one election at a time.»
Texas House Democratic Leader Rep. Gene Wu said the Supreme Court not only failed Texas voters but American democracy.
ABBOTT SIGNS TEXAS REDISTRICTING MAP INTO LAW, SECURING MAJOR GOP VICTORY AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS
Republican State Sen. Phil King displays a map during a Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting public testimony hearing Aug. 7, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
«This is what the end of the Voting Rights Act looks like: courts that won’t protect minority communities even when the evidence is staring them in the face,» Wu said. «I’m angry about this ruling. Every Texan who testified against these maps should be angry. Every community that fought for generations to build political power and watched Republicans try to gerrymander it away should be angry.
«But anger without action is just noise, and Democrats are taking action to fight back: California passed Prop 50 and added five Democratic seats to offset Texas. Democrats are organized and fighting back in Illinois, New York, Virginia, and more,» he continued. «A nationwide movement is being built that says if Republicans want to play this game, Democrats will play it better.»
Abbott, though, celebrated the decision, saying «We won!»
«Texas is officially — and legally — more red,» he said. «The U.S. Supreme Court restored the redistricting maps passed by Texas that were based on constitutional principles and Supreme Court precedent. The new congressional districts better align our representation in Washington, D.C., with the values of our state. This is a victory for Texas voters, for common sense, and for the U.S. Constitution.»
The ruling arrives amid a broader, unprecedented national redistricting battle driven by President Donald Trump’s effort to fortify the GOP House majority heading into 2026, a campaign that began in Texas before rapidly spreading to other states.
TEXAS FILES EMERGENCY SUPREME COURT PETITION AFTER TRUMP-BACKED CONGRESSIONAL MAP BLOCKED BY FEDERAL JUDGES
Gov. Greg Abbott Nov. 14, 2025, in Midlothian, Texas. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
Aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections, Trump in June first floated the idea of rare but not unheard of mid-decade congressional redistricting.
The mission was simple: Redraw congressional district maps in red states to pad the GOP’s razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.
Texas was Trump’s first target.
A month later, when asked by reporters about his plan to add Republican-leaning House seats across the country, the president said, «Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.»
Abbott called a special session of the GOP-dominated state legislature to pass the new map. Democratic state lawmakers broke quorum for two weeks and fled Texas in a bid to delay the passage of the redistricting bill.
The legislature eventually passed the bill, and Abbott signed it into law in late August.
REAGAN-APPOINTED JUDGE TORCHES COLLEAGUES IN TEXAS MAP FIGHT
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during an election night news conference at a California Democratic Party office Nov. 4, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)
But the new map immediately faced legal challenges, and the plight of the Texas lawmakers who fled the state energized Democrats across the country.
Among those jumping into the fight against Trump’s redistricting was Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.
California voters a month ago overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that will temporarily sidetrack the left-leaning state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democratic-dominated legislature.
That is expected to result in five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which aimed to counter the move by Texas to redraw its maps.
But the fight has spread beyond Texas and California.
Right-tilting Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have drawn new maps as part of the president’s push. The legislature in red-leaning Indiana meets this week to try and pass redistricting, while Florida and Kansas are also mulling redrawing their maps.
«We must keep the Majority at all costs,» Trump wrote on social media last month.
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Illinois and Maryland, two blue states, and Virginia, where Democrats control the legislature, are also taking steps or seriously considering redistricting.
And in a blow to Republicans, a Utah district judge last month rejected a congressional district map drawn up by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature and instead approved an alternate that will create a Democratic-leaning district ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
donald trump,greg abbott,gavin newsom,texas,california,house of representatives,elections
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2025, el año en que Bolivia tuvo una fuerte crisis económica y rompió la hegemonía de la izquierda tras 20 años del MAS
Bolivia vivió un 2025 marcado por una crisis económica iniciada años atrás, pero que terminó de agudizarse por la persistente falta de dólares y combustibles que dispararon la inflación, y que, además, fue determinante para el viraje político hacia el centro tras casi dos décadas de la izquierda en el poder.
La falta de divisas registrada desde 2023 ya se sentía en las restricciones a las transacciones bancarias en esa moneda y su encarecimiento en el mercado paralelo, donde el dólar este año llegó a costar 20 bolivianos frente a una cotización oficial de 6,96, fija desde 2011.
Las consecuencias se hicieron aún más evidentes en la elevada inflación, que entre enero y noviembre llegó a 19,69%, y en el desabastecimiento de combustibles que se volvió crónico, un problema que el Gobierno de Luis Arce (2020-2025) atribuyó a la falta de dólares por el “bloqueo” del anterior Legislativo a los créditos externos.
A esto se sumó el declive del sector de hidrocarburos, que hasta hace unos años fue el sustento de la economía boliviana, pero cuyas exportaciones entre enero y octubre alcanzaron los 945,4 millones de dólares, un 34% menos que en el mismo periodo de 2024.
Otros indicadores fueron el déficit comercial de 521 millones de dólares registrado entre enero y octubre y unas reservas internacionales de 3.277 millones de dólares hasta el 2 de diciembre, de los que apenas 75 millones son divisas y la mayoría es oro.
El Gobierno de Arce entregó el poder el pasado 8 de noviembre asegurando que dejaba una “economía estable”, ante lo cual las nuevas autoridades advirtieron que recibieron un país “devastado” y con un “mar de deudas” y de “corrupción” por los que responsabilizó al Ejecutivo saliente y a la Administración de Evo Morales (2006-2019).
Este año también estuvo marcado por la ruptura del Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), por la pelea entre Arce y Morales por el control del partido que gobernó Bolivia durante casi 20 años y la candidatura para las elecciones generales.
La popularidad de Arce cayó por la crisis de la que el entonces gobernante responsabilizó a Morales, quien intentó forzar su candidatura pese a una disposición constitucional que se lo impide porque ya gobernó el país en tres ocasiones.
Inicialmente, Arce iba a buscar la reelección, pero declinó su candidatura en mayo con un llamado a la unidad de la izquierda, lo que no ocurrió porque, al no poder postular, Morales impulsó el voto nulo y su “heredero” político, Andrónico Rodríguez, participó por su cuenta en las elecciones.
El candidato del MAS fue el ex ministro de Gobierno Eduardo del Castillo, que apenas logró el porcentaje necesario para conservar la sigla.
Hace tres semanas, Arce fue encarcelado preventivamente por cinco meses, investigado por supuesta corrupción en su etapa de ministro en el Gobierno de Morales.
La sorpresa de los comicios generales del 17 de agosto fue el centrista Rodrigo Paz Pereira, quien lideró la primera vuelta y luego venció al ex presidente conservador Jorge Tuto Quiroga (2002-2002) en la inédita segunda vuelta del 19 de octubre, pese a que las encuestas preelectorales lo situaban inicialmente con escaso apoyo.
El político, de 58 años, fue investido presidente ante los mandatarios de Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay y Uruguay y una importante delegación de EEUU, país al que el nuevo Gobierno boliviano se acercó después del alejamiento que hubo durante las administraciones del MAS.
Además, Paz restableció las relaciones con Israel, rotas por Arce por el conflicto en Gaza, y se distanció de aliados del MAS, como Cuba, Nicaragua y Venezuela.
La primera medida fuerte del nuevo gobernante fue el reciente decreto que retiró la subvención a los combustibles que rigió por más de dos décadas y que, según las autoridades, ya era insostenible, una medida resistida por la Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) que fue aliada política del MAS.
Paz tiene una relación tensa con el vicepresidente Edmand Lara desde el triunfo en la segunda vuelta, pues el ex policía considera que lo marginaron del Gobierno, al que critica constantemente y acusa sin pruebas de supuesta corrupción, al punto de declararse en “oposición constructiva”.
(EFE)
Domestic,Politics,South America / Central America,Government / Politics
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Comer, House Oversight demand answers in Minnesota fraud hearing, call on Walz to testify
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Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are escalating their investigation into Minnesota’s sweeping fraud schemes, setting a hearing next week and demanding answers from Gov. Tim Walz’s administration over what they say were glaring failures of oversight.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., announced lawmakers would hold a hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 7, evaluating the fraud scandal, its scale and whether the state’s leadership could have done something to prevent exploitation from happening in the first place.
«Congress has a duty to conduct rigorous oversight of this heist and enact stronger safeguards to prevent fraud in taxpayer-funded programs, as well as strong sanctions to hold offenders accountable,» Comer said in a statement on Wednesday morning.
MINNESOTA’S NEW MEDICAID FRAUD PREVENTION FIX WON’T MAKE ‘ANY DIFFERENCE,’ FORMER FBI AGENT SAYS
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, pictured alongside Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, right. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images; Allison Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
While the committee will also hear testimony from lawmakers in Minnesota, Republican lawmakers believe it is the Walz administration that holds the answers on how the problem got so large.
«Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have either been asleep at the wheel or complicit in a massive fraud involving taxpayer dollars in Minnesota’s social services programs. American taxpayers demand and deserve accountability for the theft of their hard-earned money,» Comer said.
The Committee will hear from Reps. Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson and Marion Rarick — all Republican members of the Minnesota House of Representatives.
It’s unclear if Walz or Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison will accept the invitation.
SHIRLEY ASSOCIATE IN VIRAL VIDEO SAYS HE FILED CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AGAINST WALZ OVER DAYCARE FRAUD ALLEGATIONS
Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, speaks at a get-out-the-vote rally on Oct. 22, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The hearing is a part of the committee’s own investigation into the Minnesota fraud, a separate effort from ongoing FBI probes.
The Oversight Committee’s announcement comes as new revelations about fraud in Minnesota reveal that the state could have lost as much as $9 billion through abuse of its government assistance programs.
In recent months, investigators have unearthed sweeping fraud schemes masquerading as daycare centers, medical providers, food assistance programs and more. By fabricating services or inflating the number of people they claimed to serve, the schemes allegedly siphoned billions in government funds.
«In addition to conducting transcribed interviews with Minnesota state officials, the House Oversight Committee will hold hearings on fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs to expose failures, identify solutions, and deliver accountability,» Comer said.
Given their size and frequency, lawmakers have raised questions about how a state’s lack of awareness of its own programs could have been so easily abused.
Comer believes the lawmakers who have agreed to testify before the committee will provide insight into the visibility of the fraud rings and whether Walz was made aware of their scale ahead of shocking reporting that made Minnesota’s shortcomings a matter of national attention.
MINNESOTA FRAUD COMMITTEE CHAIR CLAIMS WALZ ‘TURNED A BLIND EYE’ TO FRAUD WARNINGS FOR YEARS
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Friday that former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would face contempt of Congress charges if they fail to cooperate with the panel’s Epstein probe. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
«Next week, we will hear from Minnesota state lawmakers who sounded the alarm on this fraud — and whose warnings were ignored by the Walz administration. This misconduct cannot be swept aside, and Congress will not stop until taxpayers get the answers and accountability they deserve,» Comer said.
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The Walz office did not respond to Fox Digital’s request for comment on whether he would attend next week’s hearing.
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Año Nuevo 2026: un minuto de silencio por la masacre en Sídney pone el cierre a un 2025 marcado por el regreso de Trump y la guerra
La figura de una menorá se exhibe en el pilono del Puente del Puerto de Sídney. Foto: de Saeed KHAN / AFP
Celebraciones de año nuevo en el festival de Hogmanay, en Escocia. Foto: Reuters archivo
Fuegos artificiales estallan sobre la playa de Copacabana durante la celebración del Año Nuevo. Foto: EFE archivoLabubus y robos espectaculares
El 2025 fue el año del regreso de Donald Trump. Foto: AP
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La dura sanción de la FIFA al Botafogo tras las infracciones en el fichaje de Thiago Almada
La inflación en Paraguay mejoró la meta de 3,5% que se había planteado el gobierno para 2025
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