On October 6, 2025, the UCLA Voting Rights Project (VRP), directed by Dr. Matt A. Barreto and Chad W. Dunn, JD, in the Luskin School of Public Affairs, successfully argued in favor of Hispanic and Black voters in League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) et al. v. Abbott,
VPR’s legal director, Dunn, and senior staff attorney, Sonni Waknin, represented Hispanic and Black voters across Texas, alleging that the congressional map was intentionally discriminatory and drawn to dismantle existing Hispanic opportunity districts in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Central Texas, and the Gulf Coast area, and Black voters in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas.
VRP’s faculty director, Dr. Barreto, testified as an expert witness on behalf of the Brooks and MALC plaintiffs and individual voters, teaming up with VRP senior data scientist Michael Rios to author two expert reports and a rebuttal report submitted as evidence to the Court. The Barreto and Rios reports provided critical statistical evidence that the 2025 Texas congressional map used racial targets when drawing district boundaries and the Federal Court credited the Barreto-Rios reports as credible and relied on their data analysis in striking down the Texas map.
The decision marks a victory for voting rights advocates who have argued the map was drawn “focusing on race,” fragmenting and concentrating underrepresented communities to weaken their political influence. In doing so, the Court found that the Texas legislature and government acted with intentional discrimination against Black and Hispanic voters.
The 2025 map attempted to dismantle four majority-minority districts that elect Hispanic and Black members of Congress, and the Federal Court has ruled that it was unconstitutional.
Contributors: Chad Dunn, Matt Barreto, Sonni Waknin, Michael Rios
