Judge Backs TDP Rules

The Texas Democratic Party has won the latest legal challenge to its convention rules. The League of United Latin American Citizens and the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston had argued that weighting state convention seating relative to turn-out at the last election discriminated against some heavily Hispanic and Latino precincts, and so violated the Voting Rights Act. But U.S. District Judge Fred Biery was having none of it.

In his ruling this morning, Biery accepted the Democrats' contention that the act does not apply "so long as all people have a right to participate." As for the LULAC claim, he added, the plaintiffs' voting rights are not diluted by TDP rules but by the plaintiffs' failure to vote.

In a press release, TDP party chair Boyd Richie said he was pleased with the outcome, and stressed that "Both the Texas Democratic Party and LULAC respect the importance of the Voting Rights Act and encourage participation by Texans from all walks of life in the electoral process."