Federal court rejects voting districts drawn by Texas Legislature, finds maps discriminatory

[TexasTowelie]

Last edited Tue Aug 28, 2012, 07:26 PM - Edit history (2)

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014210603

Thanks to Lone_Star_Dem for posting.

[sonias]

1. Use this link

Your link isn't working. Here is the story at the Texas Tribune:

Texas Tribune 8/28/12
Court: Texas Political Maps Don't Protect Minority Vote
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.

“Texas ... seeks from this court a declaratory judgement that its redistricting plans will neither have 'the purpose nor will have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color, or [language minority group]", the judges wrote. "We conclude that Texas has failed to show that any of the redistricting plans merits preclearance.”

Attorney General Greg Abbott immediately said — via Twitter — that the state will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It's been a good day for federal court rulings and minority interests in Texas!

[TexasTowelie]

3. In the words of the never-failing Rick Perry...

Oops!

I removed the period from the end so hopefully the link will work.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014210603

[sonias]

2. So what happens now?

Texas Redistricting blog 8/28/12
So what happens now?
The big question following today’s Texas redistricting opinion is ‘what happens now?’

At the moment, that’s a bit unclear. Waiting for the redistricting opinion had become a bit like waiting for Godot - so much so that many folks had stopped thinking about redistricting. Most people, in fact, were expecting a ruling on Texas’ voter ID law to come first. And with a 154 pages of opinion and dissent, folks are still digesting the opinion and looking at options.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has taken the position that the opinion will not affect the November election, which he says will proceed on the interim maps put into place back in February.

On the other hand, it is certainly possible to see a move to adjust those interim maps in the San Antonio court. For example, CD-23 arguably could be restored to its full benchmark configuration fairly easily. Similar arguments might also be made with respect to HD 117 and 149, which are wholly contained in their respective counties (to the extent redistricting plaintiffs think that not enough changes were made to those districts in the interim maps).

[They_Live]

4. I am sooo confused.

Am I back in Doggett's district now? Is there any reliable way to find out what map is being used now? Wouldn't this mess up what was decided in the primaries?

[Gothmog]

5. Plaintiffs trying to get interim maps adjusted

I am in trial right now and have had limited time to follow issue. The opinion is 154 pages and appears to be well done. I did see on the Texas Redistricting site that the plaintiffs want to call a status hearing and see if the judges will grant relief as to the interim maps http://txredistricting.org/post/30495317312/request-for-san-antonio-court-to-hold-status-conference

Request for San Antonio court to hold status conference on Texas redistricting

LULAC, the NAACP, the Travis County plaintiffs, and the three African-American members of Congress today asked the San Antonio court to hold an expedited status conference “at the earliest practicable date … to address the immediate impact on these proceedings” of yesterday’s redistricting ruling by the D.C. court.

The short, one-page request did not outline what relief the parties might seek from the court.

As of yet, the Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force, MALC, and Quesada plaintiffs in the San Antonio case have not joined in the request.

Relief here would be messy. The court could redraw the boundaries for the 2012 election for some districts and then in effect open these seats for people to enter and in effect have what is called a "jungle primary" in which there is no official Democratic or Republican nominee and everyone is on the ballot with the top two going to a run off. This was done in the past and can be done now.