Southwest
Reagan-appointed judge torches colleagues in Texas map fight, calls ruling ‘fiction,’ ‘judicial activism’
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A federal judge in Texas responded to the court’s decision to scrap the state’s redrawn map with a jaw-dropping dissent on Wednesday in which he lobbed dozens of insults at his colleague and repeatedly invoked Democratic mega-donor George Soros.
“This is the most blatant exercise of judicial activism that I have ever witnessed,” Judge Jerry Smith, a Reagan-appointee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, wrote of the 2-1 decision to toss out the map.
In the turbulent 104-page tirade, he named the majority opinion’s author, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee, hundreds of times, accusing him of “pernicious judicial misbehavior.”
The majority opinion would be a “prime candidate” for a “Nobel Prize for Fiction,” Smith said.
“The main winners from Judge Brown’s opinion are George Soros and Gavin Newsom,” Smith said. “The obvious losers are the People of Texas and the Rule of Law.”
REPUBLICANS PUSH BACK OVER ‘FALSE ACCUSATIONS OF RACISM’ IN BLOCKBUSTER REDISTRICTING FIGHT
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has turned to the Supreme Court for relief in the state’s redistricting fight. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Smith, a Yale Law School graduate, wrote that “if this were a law school exam, the opinion would deserve an ‘F.’”
Smith’s dissent came as part of a three-judge panel’s decision in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to temporarily block the state from using its map in the 2026 midterms. The map had created five new Republican-leaning districts, which the majority said was a product of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has already turned to the Supreme Court for relief.
Just as striking as the dissent itself, which Smith conceded was “disjointed,” was that the two judges in the majority did not wait for it, issuing their decision on Tuesday and leaving Smith’s dissent to land on the docket a day later.
“Any pretense of judicial restraint, good faith, or trust by these two judges is gone,” Smith wrote. “If these judges were so sure of their result, they would not have been so unfairly eager to issue the opinion sans my dissent, or they could have waited for the dissent in order to join issue with it. What indeed are they afraid of?”
Brown was joined in the 2-1 opinion by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama, an Obama appointee.
The U.S. and Texas flags wave outside the Texas Capitol on July 13, 2021, in Austin, Texas. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
Smith’s broadside focused on Brown, saying that, “true to form,” he preferred to “live in a fantasyland” and had engaged in “judicial tinkering.”
The Supreme Court is now under pressure to act quickly on what has become a pivotal election issue that could shape the outcome of next year’s midterms. Texas requires candidates to declare their candidacy by Dec. 8.
The high court is already considering a similar Voting Rights Act case that originated in Louisiana. The justices heard oral arguments in the case last month and are expected to address the race provision of the law, which is relevant in the Texas case, on a normal timeline during this term.
Brown’s majority opinion in Texas had opened with a quote from Chief Justice John Roberts, who said in an unrelated case, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
FEDERAL JUDGES BLOCK TEXAS FROM USING REDRAWN CONGRESSIONAL MAP
Chief Justice John Roberts attends inauguration ceremonies in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool via Reuters/File Photo)
“Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map,” Brown wrote.
Brown said Department of Justice Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon’s warning to Texas this year to address four districts with non-White majorities because they were “coalition” districts was a race-based directive as evidenced by Dhillon ignoring all other Democrat-leaning districts that had White majorities. Abbott had responded to Dhillon by adding redistricting to the legislative agenda in a rush, leading to a stunning protest involving Democratic state lawmakers fleeing the state earlier this year.
“The Governor explicitly directed the Legislature to redistrict based on race,” Brown found.
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At least one person was critically injured in a house fire that erupted in Montebello early Thursday morning.
Crews responded to the blaze engulfing a detached unit in the 100 block of South 5th Street near West Whittier Boulevard around 5 a.m.
Flames quickly spread to a nearby electrical pole, blowing a fuse and knocking out power in the area. Sparks could be seen as a loud pop was heard in a Citizen.com video later obtained by KTLA.
At least one person was believed to be in critical condition due to burn injuries, though officials have not released further details.
There was no immediate word on a possible cause of the fire.
A neighbor told KTLA that three people lived inside the home, including a child.
This is a developing story.
Authorities revealed new details Wednesday afternoon about the violent Santa Clarita crash involving a city transit bus, an overturned semi truck and two other vehicles that left 13 people injured.
According to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, the driver of a semi truck hauling a full load of gravel may have been traveling as fast as 70 mph when the vehicle approached a yellow light at the intersection of Golden Valley Road and Centre Pointe Parkway around 9:30 a.m.
Investigators said the driver then attempted to make a right turn to avoid running the red light before crashing into the bus and two passenger vehicles.
“[The driver] tried to make a right-hand turn to avoid running the red light and then crashed into the bus and the other two passenger vehicles,” Capt. Brandon Barclay of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station told KTLA.
Officials noted that the speed limit on Golden Valley Road is 50 mph.
Sky5 aerial footage showed the heavily damaged Santa Clarita Transit bus pushed onto a curb while the semi truck overturned nearby, and another vehicle appeared pinned beneath the front right side of the bus.
“When you look at it, it looks like a scene from Universal CityWalk,” Barclay said.
Authorities said 13 people were injured in the crash.
One passenger seated in the back of the bus had to be freed using the Jaws of Life and remained hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday afternoon, KTLA’s Angeli Kakade reported.
Seven additional people were transported to hospitals while five others declined medical treatment at the scene.
“You have a bus that was hit by a semi truck, so it’s very impactful for this community,” Barclay added.
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Sky5 was over a multi-vehicle crash involving a city bus in Santa Clarita, Calif. on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (KTLA) -
Sky5 was over a multi-vehicle crash involving a city bus in Santa Clarita, Calif. on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (KTLA) -
Sky5 was over a multi-vehicle crash involving a city bus in Santa Clarita, Calif. on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (KTLA) -
Sky5 was over a multi-vehicle crash involving a city bus in Santa Clarita, Calif. on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (KTLA) -
Sky5 was over a multi-vehicle crash involving a city bus in Santa Clarita, Calif. on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (KTLA) -
Sky5 was over a multi-vehicle crash involving a city bus in Santa Clarita, Calif. on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (KTLA)
Former Santa Clarita transit bus driver Darryl Richardson said he was stunned when he saw the aftermath of the crash.
“I know how a person feels to see a big old truck coming right at you,” Richardson told KTLA. “Thank God if it had broadsided the driver, we’d be talking about a different conversation right now.”
The City of Santa Clarita said road closures around the crash scene were expected to continue for several hours as deputies investigated what led up to the collision.
All directions of Centre Pointe Parkway between Golden Valley Road and Ruether Avenue remained closed Wednesday afternoon. Eastbound Golden Valley Road was also shut down from Robert C. Lee Parkway to Centre Pointe Parkway.
Drivers were urged to avoid the area and use alternate routes.
The crash remains under investigation.
Just hours after officials announced arrests connected to a string of residential burglaries, another one was reported in the San Fernando Valley.
According to a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson, the incident took place just before 1:45 a.m. Wednesday in the 5000 block of Bluebell Avenue, which is located in the Valley Village neighborhood.
The person who lives in the home was too shaken to appear on camera but told KTLA that three masked suspects broke in while she was inside and took off within minutes.
The LAPD spokesperson was unable to confirm that detail, or any other details, right away. It was unclear whether anything was taken from the home.
The alleged break-in came less than a day after L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other officials announced arrests in a string of burglaries mainly plaguing the San Fernando Valley. At a press conference Tuesday, Mayor Karen Bass said there has been a 30% reduction year-to-date in property crimes and burglaries.
The LAPD says part of their strategy is to saturate areas, like the Valley, that have been targeted disproportionately, using visible officers and others “behind the scenes.”
“Burglaries in the city are down over 30%, reflecting the effectiveness of our proactive enforcement and prevention strategies,” LAPD Deputy Chief Gerald Woodyard said. “We are aware that the burglary crews are highly organized and sophisticated, and we are constantly adjusting our strategies to counteract their tactics.”
That said, the LAPD is down anywhere from 800 to 1,400 police officers. The mayor said she’s fighting to hire more and is using mental health professionals on calls which don’t require a police officer.
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