Texas Congressional Maps Voided, Called Biased Against Minorities

AUSTIN, TX — A federal court on Tuesday ruled that Texas cannot use its current voter maps in the upcoming congressional midterm elections because they illegally discriminate against minority voters.

The three-judge panel in a San Antonio district court also has given the state three days for a response on whether or not they intend to fix the maps. The boundaries drawn up by Republican lawmakers were deemed discriminatory in that they dilute the Latino voting bloc in their reconfiguration and marginalize the black vote as well.

The ruling voids two congressional maps the panel of judges has ordered to be redrawn, including in in Travis County and the other encompassing parts of Bastrop County. Should Texas not correct the biased district on their own, the court will stage a hearing to secure insights and advice in redrawing the congressional maps themselves, according to the ruling.

Should Texas fail to respond, the panel of judges will stage a hearing on Sept. 5 to launch an effort to re-draw the maps, according to the ruling. The current congressional maps were drawn up in 2011.

The ruling follows a similar conclusion by the panel in April that determined certain maps were reconfigured in a way to dilute the Hispanic vote by splitting up Hispanic-prevalent districts.

Related story: Federal Court Rules Texas Maps Were Intentionally Drawn To Weaken Minority Vote

Among the most salient aspects of Tuesday's ruling are:

• Its potential to yield major changes in Travis County, long a Democratic stronghold — some refer to it as the blue dot in a sea of red given the state's overall Republican majority. GOP lawmakers led efforts in splitting the area into five separate congressional districts, four of which are represented by Republicans and one by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat from Austin.
• Doggett's District 35 would have to be redrawn, the panel ruled, as Republicans used race to determine its boundaries for political gain. The district was extended further south into San Antonio, in an effort, the judges strongly inferred, to unseat Doggett and all but force a Latino candidate would emerge given the Alamo City's predominant Hispanic population.
• District 27 represented by U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, a Corpus Christi, Texas, Republican, also was voided in the ruling. The district's sprawling boundaries were drawn up to encompass the Coastal Bend along the Gulf of Mexico, and then meandering northward to include the southern portions of Bastrop County. Before it was reconfigured, that district covered Brownsvillle — a city where Hispanics represent more than 91 percent of the population. Historically, Hispanics tend to vote Democratic.
• While the judges expressed concern over District 23, represented byHelotes, Texas, Republican U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, the panel didn't include it in the list of districts needing to be reconfigured.

At times in the past, voter dilution has manifested itself through inaction. After the 2010 U.S. census count, Texas gained four new congressional districts populated almost entirely of black or Hispanic voters, but the GOP-controlled Legislature made no move to draw new districts favoring those minority voters.

Critics of the GOP's historical redistricting process have long called it nothing short of gerrymandering. Every voter map in the state created since 1970 has been met with legal challenges by civil rights organizations acting on behalf of minority voters.

Such reflexive actions by Republicans in drawing up the maps to their political advantage has placed the state under federal electoral oversight. For more three decades, such oversight was in place given Texas' status as something of a repeat offender. After the U.S. Supreme Court essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act requirement that jurisdictions with histories of voter discrimination first secure federal approval for boundary changes — a process known as "pre-clearance" — the federal oversight ended in 2013.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton put a positive spin on most aspects of the ruling, even while expressing disappointment in the area focused on congressional maps. He was happy the court didn't find the need for districts around Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston to be redrawn, but upset about the ruling's main points.

“We appreciate that the panel ruled in favor of Texas on many issues in the case," Paxton said in a prepared statement. "But the portion of the ruling that went against Texas is puzzling considering the Legislature adopted the congressional map the same court itself adopted in 2012, and the Obama-era Department of Justice did not bring any claims against the map.

Paxton vowed to appeal the ruling of the three-judge panel in the U.S. District Court in San Antonio to the nation's highest court: “We look forward to asking the Supreme Court to decide whether Texas had discriminatory intent when relying on the district court,” he said.

Paxton then focused on aspects of the ruling with which he agreed:

• That plaintiffs failed to prove black and Hispanic voters vote cohesively for purposes of creating a coalition district in Dallas-Fort Worth;
• That plaintiffs failed to prove black and Hispanic voters vote cohesively for purposes of creating a coalition district in Houston; and
• What he termed as the "lawfulness" of Congressional District 23, an assessment based on the panel's decision not to order that reconfiguration of that district.

To read the full ruling, click here.

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