U.S. Supreme Court Sends Washington State Legislative Map Case Back to Court of Appeals

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a procedural move, sent Trevino v. Hobbs back to the lower court for further review based on the April 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Callais. On behalf of Latino voters in Washington state’s Yakima Valley, Campaign Legal Center, the UCLA Voting Rights Project, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and Morfin Law Firm, PLLC will continue to defend the rights of all Washingtonians to have an equal say in electing state legislators who best serve their community.

Following a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that affirmed the legality of a new Washington state legislative map put in place by a district court to remedy a violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), two voters who had intervened in the litigation brought this case to the Supreme Court, continuing an effort to resist a fair map for Washington’s voters. On October 5, 2026, after considering the intervenors’ petition to review the case, the Supreme Court granted intervenors’ petition, vacated the previous decision and sent the case back for further review in the Ninth Circuit in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais earlier this year.

“We won this case twice already, and we intend to win again. As a result of our previous litigation, Latino voters in Yakima Valley had an equal voice in state legislative elections for the first time in decades,” said Annabelle Harless, director of redistricting at Campaign Legal Center. “Despite recent Supreme Court actions weakening the Voting Rights Act, we will continue to fight for fair maps to ensure that Latino voters in Washington State’s Yakima Valley have a fair chance to elect state legislators who best serve their community.”

“The 2021 Washington state Legislative redistricting denied Yakima and Tri-Cities Latinos the chance at equal representation, but our lawsuit remedied that in 2023,” said Ernest Herrera, MALDEF Western Regional Counsel. “Today's Supreme Court's orders do not change the fact that the Voting Rights Act guarantees Latinos equal opportunity to elect candidates who represent them in Washington's state Legislature, and we will fight to keep a fair map in the Ninth Circuit.”

“Today’s order does not decide the merits of this case,” said Sonni Waknin, senior voting rights counsel at the UCLA Voting Rights Project. “We will continue to move forward and ensure that a fair map exists in Washington state.”

“I think that the lower courts got it right on the law. I sometimes dream of a perfect world, where we have fair and equal representation, and ethical governance, where elected representatives care about the needs of the entire population,” said Edwardo Morfin of Morfin Law Firm, PLLC. “But, since we do not live in a perfect world, we need to wake up and keep fighting to get closer to that dream.”

Background:

In January 2022, Campaign Legal Center (CLC), alongside co-counsel MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund), the UCLA Voting Rights Project, and attorney Edwardo Morfin of the Morfin Law Firm in Washington, sued on behalf of individual Latino voters in the Yakima Valley region, arguing that Washington’s state Legislative District 15 violated Section 2 of the VRA.

A federal judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, agreeing that the map violated Section 2 because the challenged district diluted the voting strength of Latino voters. Following this violation, a remedial map, which was drawn without any consideration of race, was implemented to allow voters in the Yakima Valley region an equal opportunity to participate in the political process.

Following the lower court’s decisions, intervenors appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in an attempt to get the fair map overturned. 

The Ninth Circuit found that the intervenors lacked standing to challenge the district court’s liability ruling and affirmed that the new remedial district put in place to address the Section 2 VRA violation complies with federal law.

Following plaintiffs’ win at the Ninth Circuit, intervenors filed a petition for a writ of certiorari at the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the Ninth Circuit’s decision. 
More information about our case is available here.

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The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials.

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