Federal Court Rules Texas Maps Were Intentionally Drawn To Weaken Minority Vote [UPDATED]

SAN ANTONIO, TX — A federal court on Thursday has upheld a previous finding that Texas House map from 2011 was intentionally drawn to dilute minority voting, according to reports.

A three-judge panel in San Antonio issued a 171-page order, with one judge dissenting. The ruling is the latest challenge to Texas in a legal battle over the past six years centered on its map redrawing as part of Plan H283 enacted by the 82nd Legislature in 2011.

The decision centered largely on a dozen districts in seven counties—Bell, Bexar, Dallas, El Paso, Harris, Nueces and Tarrant—and the Rio Grande Valley. The court found the voting maps for those predominantly Hispanic regions were configured in a way to divide minority populations by splitting up districts in Latino-heavy regions. In its ruling, the court also found nine districts (in Bell, Hidalgo, Lampasas and Nueces counties) were drawn with uneven populations, in violation of the one person, one vote rule.

This tactic is known in the parlance as gerrymandering.

Late Thursday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a statement in response to the ruling. He noted the 2011 redistricting Texas House maps were superseded by new maps in 2013, referencing a remark by the dissenting judge in the case referencing that.

“We respectfully disagree with the redistricting panel’s 2-1 decision," Paxton wrote in his prepared statement. "As Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith observed in his dissent, the challenge to the old 2011 maps are not only moot but ‘a finding that racial considerations were dominant and controlling defies everything about this record.’ Accordingly, we are confident we will ultimately prevail in this case.”

The ruling comes as Texas is fighting lawsuits decrying its 2011 Voting ID law, one of the strictest in the country. The state has previously been forced to comply with modifications to its Voting ID law to allow for a wider array of identification forms for people to vote.

Republicans continue to challenge the orders to amplify the range of documentation to allow people to vote, even while being forced to do so. They have appealed a related ruling and have expressed resistance over a previous Department of Justice order to comply. The Voter ID law required specific photo identification (including a gun license), conditions designed to exclude a minority voting bloc less prone to possess such forms of ID, detractors have noted.

The issue of voting identification and district maps appears to be politically motivated, seen as attempts to marginalize a wide swath of voters traditionally voting Democratic. This perception was recently furthered when the administration of Donald Trump said it would drop its opposition to the Texas Voter ID law after years of effort to achieve equity by the previous administration.

Related stories:

Texas Voter ID Law Violates U.S. Voting Rights Act: 5th Circuit Court Of Appeals

Federal Government To Drop Opposition To Texas' Strict Voter ID Law: Report

U.S. Supreme Court Declines Allowing Texas To Resurrect Its Controversial Voter ID Law

Texas also has sought to eliminate straight-ticket voting, one of just 10 states still allowing the practice.

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