A panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today tossed out Texas’ redistricting maps, ruling that the state failed to show that the lawmaker-redrawn maps would not discriminate against minorities.
Texas is among a handful of states required under the Voting Rights Act to have its redistricting maps cleared by the feds because of the state’s history of discrimination.
The maps Texas drew as part of the regular redistricting process were already given a thumbs down by a federal court in San Antonio and were redrawn. The state continued its quest to have its version approved, appealing to the court in D.C., which today ruled that the maps covering Texas House districts and for its U.S. congressional delegation will not get federal approval, but that it “has no quarrel with the plan for the Texas Senate.”
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement that the court’s decision “extends the Voting Rights Act beyond the limits intended by Congress and beyond the boundaries imposed by the Constitution. The Attorney General’s Office will continue defending the maps enacted by the Texas Legislature and will immediately take steps to appeal this flawed decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Background on the redistricting case is here.
This article appears in August 24 • 2012.