Posted Aug 28, 2012, 1:06 pm
Texas lawmakers didn’t comply with the Voting Rights Act when they drew new maps for congressional, state Senate and state House districts, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled Tuesday.
“We conclude that Texas has failed to show that any of the redistricting plans merits preclearance,” the court said.
Attorney General Greg Abbott immediately said — via Twitter — that the state will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court wasn’t ruling on interim maps drawn by federal judges — the maps in use for the current election — but on those drawn by state lawmakers last year. Lawyers are still looking through the opinions for anything that might disrupt the current elections.
Texas and other states with histories of discrimination have to have federal approval for any changes in voting laws and political maps. Instead of going to the U.S. Department of Justice for that "preclearance," Abbott's office opted to ask the federal court in D.C. That court has had the maps in hand for months; while it was working on a decision, another federal court, meeting in San Antonio, put its own redistricting maps in place. Those court-drawn maps are being used in the current elections while those drawn by the Legislature are still tangled in appeals.
“We conclude that Texas has not met its burden to show that the U.S. Congressional and State House Plans will not have a retrogressive effect, and that the U.S. Congressional and State Senate Plans were not enacted with discriminatory purpose,” the judges said in their opinion. “Accordingly, we deny Texas declaratory relief. Texas has failed to carry its burden that Plans C185, S148, and H283 do not have the purpose or effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.”
That section of the voting law is designed to keep new maps from eroding the ability of minority voters to elect candidates of their choice. The court singled out problems in congressional districts 23 and 27 and in several state House districts.
Ross Ramsey is executive editor of The Texas Tribune.
1 comment on this story
Well, of course the districts are rigged. They are in Arizona, also. If common sense would prevail, the law would determine that the only laws regarding drawing districts would be to make them equal in population, make them contiguous, and make them as close to geographically rectangular, then this suit wouldn’t have been brought in the first place.
When you start introducing bullshit like the “Voting rights act”, “Minority majority” or whatever it is, and other stupidity such as that, you’re opening the door for rigging the districts. If we’re truly interested in a fair, level playing field, then we would draw districts based on the three parameters I stated in the opening paragraph, and ONLY those parameters.