The Department of Justice announced Monday that it is suing the state of Texas for allegedly violating the Section Two of the Voting Rights Act by redrawing U.S. and State House maps that overhaul how Texas’ nearly 30 million residents are sorted into political districts.

“The complaint we filed today alleges that Texas has violated Section Two by creating redistricting plans that deny or abridge the rights of Latino and Black voters on account of their race, color or membership in a language minority group,” attorney general Merrick Garland said at a Monday afternoon press conference. 

The complaint also alleges that the new maps were drawn “with discriminatory intent,” said associate attorney general Vanita Gupta. 

The new maps, which were approved in October, favored incumbents and decreased political representation for growing minority communities.

The lawsuit notes that the vast majority of Texas’ population growth over the past decade came from Black, Latino and Asian people, but the new maps that state Republicans drew doesn’t give any of these communities new opportunities to choose their own representatives.

Instead, the maps pack Black and Latino communities into bizarre-shaped districts — a Dallas-area one is referred to as a “seahorse” shape — while preserving safe seats for white Republicans.

"The newly-enacted redistricting plans will not allow minority voters an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice," Gupta said Monday. "Our investigation determined that Texas' redistricting plans will dilute the increased minority voting strength that should have developed from these significant demographic shifts." 

Monday’s complaint asks a judge to block Texas’ implementation of the new maps in any upcoming elections and to order state officials to draft new maps, as well as an interim plan for voting districts in the meantime. 

The announcement is one of several steps Garland’s Justice Department has taken in response to a swath of GOP-led efforts to implement more stringent voting registration laws in states across the country. It is the second suit against Texas for allegedly violating the Voting Rights Act with new voting laws. 

In response to the announcement, the Office of the Texas Attorney General called the lawsuit "absurd" in a Twitter post, branding it "the Biden Administration's latest ploy to control Texas voters."

"I am confident that our legislature's redistricting decisions will be proven lawful, and this preposterous attempt to sway democracy will fail," the post reads. 

Already this year, the DOJ filed lawsuits against the states of Georgia and Texas for bills signed into law in March and September, respectively. 

Georgia’s S.B. 202, also dubbed the "Election Integrity Act of 2021,” was a massive bill that included sweeping changes to both state and local elections. Democrats take the most issue with the changes to early voting and absentee ballots, as the law, in part, shortens the deadline for submitting absentee ballot applications and imposes increased fines and requirements on those registering to vote for the first time. 

Texas’ S.B. 1 also referred to as the “Election Integrity Protection Act of 2021” also curtailed mail-in voting access, in addition to implementing criminal penalties for election officials who offer assistance to voters.

The DOJ contends that Georgia’s law discriminates based on race, and would have a disproportionate impact on Black voters; the department says Texas’ law infringes on the rights of those with a disability who might need extra assistance when casting their ballot. 

Garland in June pledged that the DOJ would begin taking a more aggressive approach to protect voting rights, which included a plan to bolster staff in the department’s civil rights division and a review of both current and proposed legislation in states across the country. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.