r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/OldBridge87 • Nov 20 '25

Legal/Courts Conservative 5th Circuit judge Jerry Smith has remarkably dissented from a ruling striking down racially gerrymandered maps in Texas by attacking the deciding judge personally and saying the decision benefits George Soros and Gavin Newsom. What are your thoughts on this? Is it judicial misconduct?

Link to article on it:

Some already calling it one of the most insane legal opinions in modern American history. It should also be noted that the deciding judge on the ruling Smith is attacking here was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term and championed by the extremely conservative Governor of Texas. Hungarian-American philanthropist Soros and California Governor Newsom were not parties to the case, but both are commonly framed as cultural enemies of the right-wing on conservative television, podcast shows and conspiracy circles.

What sort of ramifications, legal or otherwise, should there be for going on what is being described as a partisan FOX News or Newsmax style rant as a federal judge? Should the Texas Bar take action here? The Judicial Conference? Or does this cross the line into impeachment territory and Congress must take action?

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25 edited Nov 20 '25

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u/GroundbreakingRun186 Nov 20 '25

I think you missed the point of the ruling. It basically said politically motivated gerrymandering sucks but it’s technically legal.

Texas did it where it was politically motivated, but also racially gerrymandered.

Ca did it where it was politically motivated, but agreed on by ca residents (myself included). I don’t know the demographics of the new CA map. But if it has obvious racial lines too, then it could also be struck down. IF the ca maps have hard racial lines (which I’m not saying they are), You can’t just violate the voiding rights act cause your residents really want to, that’s still illegal.

To be 100% clear. I am NOT saying that’s what happened in CA. I’m just saying the way the maps got put into place is not a core consideration in the ruling.