DOJ on Redistricting: Tell It to the Judge

Any Texas candidates eyeing a seat in either the Texas House or U.S. House better hold on to their paperwork. The federal government has rejected calls from the state's Republican leaders to provide preclearance for their controversial redistricting plans, ensuring that the measure will be settled in the courts.

The Texas House and congressional maps, approved by the Legislature in June, are being challenged before the U.S. District Court in San Antonio by a coalition of Democratic lawmakers and minority voting rights activists for violations of the Voting Rights Act (see "Voting Rights Act Goes to Court," July 15). Closing arguments in that case wrapped up on Sept. 15, but neither side is expecting a quick resolution. The court is waiting on hearings up in Washington, D.C., where state Attorney General Greg Abbott is suing the U.S. government. In an attempt to curtail the Texas hearings and get the maps approved quickly, he asked the Department of Justice to sign off on the new districts by granting preclearance. This would not be a final legal judgment, but would signify that the feds would not challenge the new boundaries in court.

In a 10-page response filed Sept. 19, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder shot down Abbott's hopes. He rejected the call for preclearance and said the decision must be left to the courts. So that means first the D.C. judges must make their decision, which the San Antonio judges will in turn use to make their own. Unsurpris­ing­ly, Democrats and minority rights voting groups, who have argued that the plan diminishes the power of Hispanic voters and slices up communities of interest, applauded Holder's decision. Texas Demo­crat­ic Party spokesperson Rebecca Acuña called the maps "a desperate attempt by Republicans to latch onto power by any means necessary."

The sole consolation for Texas Republicans is that Holder wrote that "the scope of the issues between the parties can be substantially narrowed," meaning his office is only likely to challenge the maps for certain districts. However, each district that's redesigned has severe consequences for its neighbors – especially in tightly drawn urban and suburban state House seats. Austin Congressman Lloyd Doggett, whose current district has been sliced up heavily under the GOP gerrymander, said his proposed district "may well be changed by necessary corrections to adjacent congressional districts."