Court halts Texas redistricting map

[Nbadan]

No Gerry-mandering for you! Time to roll back the uncons utional laws in the other 18 states where the GOP is trying to deny people their democratic right...

A federal court put the brakes on a Republican-drawn congressional map Tuesday, potentially costing the GOP House seats in next year’s election.

Because the D.C. District Court on Tuesday refused to sign off on the newest map, which was drawn by a Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Perry, the plan won’t be approved in time for the November filing period, said Matt Angle, a Texas Democratic strategist who has been advocating against the plan.

In a ruling by a three-judge panel, the court found Texas used “an improper standard or methodology” to determine districts that would represent minorities. The ruling applied to maps for congressional and state House seats.

The D.C. court will now conduct a trial to hear testimony on the map.

A federal court in San Antonio will be responsible for creating an interim map in time for the Nov. 28 start of filing, Angle said.

“Once they hold the elections under the new map, then that map stands as the benchmark to measure against, so the Republicans can’t go back and argue for their old plans,” Angle said.

Once the D.C. District court makes a ruling, the Texas Legislature could reconvene next year and retool the map to address the court’s objections, said Texas GOP pollster Chris Perkins.

A new map could be implemented in the middle of the election process, even after the primaries, Perkins said.

“The San Antonio court will produce the map,” Perkins said. “It’s unclear how long that map will stand.”

But Jose Garza, lead counsel for Mexican American Legislative Caucus in Texas, said it’s unlikely that the process will move along quickly enough to allow a second map to be made in time to upend the election.

“These sorts of issues and cases do get protracted, and we could be still litigating this two or three years from now,” Garza said. “At the stage we’re in at this time, it’s unlikely that anyting other than the court-ordered plans could be used in the 2012 elections.”

Because of the state’s voting history, Texas officials are required under the Voting Rights Act to gain approval from the federal government. Instead of seeking approval through the Democratic-led Department of Justice, Texas opted to take the map to the federal courts for approval.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories...#ixzz1dAtH4Q6t

[scott]

Damn activist judges (that George W. Bush appointed)!!!

[RandomGuy]

Shocking.

Republican attempts to water down Hispanic voters turns out to be patently obvious to anybody with a lick of sense.

[Nbadan]

Final nail is not in this yet...but Hispanics might get a fair shake in 2012...