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Federal court finds Texas maps discriminate against minorities
Courts need to examine Congressional districts in every state to end the tactic of gerrymandering districts for discriminatory-political-purposes.
BY REID WILSON - 08/15/17
Three federal judges have ordered Texas to redraw congressional district boundary lines after ruling the Republican-led state legislature intended to discriminate against minority voters in crafting the original boundaries. The decision is almost certain to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, setting up another battle on the eve of the decennial reapportionment and redistricting process that could determine how far parties may go to tilt the political scales in their favor. The federal judges said, in an opinion issued late Tuesday, that congressional districts held by Reps. Blake Farenthold (R) and Lloyd Doggett (D) were drawn with the intent to diminish the political power of minority voters. The two districts were drawn in 2013, two years after the initial round of new maps came under scrutiny by federal judges. The court ruled Tuesday that the new lines continued the discriminatory intent first demonstrated under the initial 2011 lines.
"[T]he Court concludes that the racially discriminatory intent and effects that it previously found in the 2011 plans carry over into the 2013 plans where ... district lines remain unchanged," the judges wrote in a unanimous opinion. "The Legislature in 2013 intentionally furthered and continued the existing discrimination in the plans." The judges said Farenthold's district was drawn to "intentionally" deprive Hispanic voters of an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. Farenthold, who won his seat in 2010 when he ousted then-Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D), benefitted from the Republican legislature's remap when they drew heavily Republican precincts into an otherwise Democratic-leaning district.
Courts need to examine Congressional districts in every state to end the tactic of gerrymandering districts for discriminatory-political-purposes.