http://www.texastribune.org/texas-re...ct-minority-v/
Court: Texas Political Maps Don't Protect Minority Vote
by Ross Ramsey August 28, 2012
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.
“We conclude that Texas has failed to show that any of the redistricting plans merits preclearance,” the court said.
The court wasn’t ruling on interim maps drawn by federal judges — the maps in use for the current election — but on those drawn by state lawmakers last year. Lawyers are still looking through the opinions for anything that might disrupt the current elections.
“We conclude that Texas has not met its burden to show that the U.S. Congressional and State House Plans will not have a retrogressive effect, and that the U.S. Congressional and State Senate Plans were not enacted with discriminatory purpose,” the judges said in their opinion. “Accordingly, we deny Texas declaratory relief. Texas has failed to carry its burden that Plans C185, S148, and H283 do not have the purpose or effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.”
That section of the voting law is designed to keep new maps from eroding the ability of minority voters to elect candidates of their choice. The court singled out problems in congressional districts 23 and 27 and in several state House districts.
This is not surprising, and it will be appealed.
I hate what the Texas lawmakers did, but it doesn't surprise me.
The fact is that Texas has to jump through these hoops because of their history of discrimination in the past. I doubt that the ruling would be upheld by this SCOTUS, though, which says more about SCOTUS than about Texas' maps being non-discriminatory or this judge being wrong.
It's a Texas tradition. Whoever is in power when the new census comes out gets to draw the new maps. That hammer has been used over the years to bludgeon Republicans as well as Democrats.
CC, if that were the only case then it wouldn't be an issue. But they're predicating it on the idea that it's crushing minorities. The fact that they happen to vote Democrat is just a happy coincidence for blue team.
US democracy is perverted, undercut when voting district maps, vote counting, and voter registration rules are done by political hacks rather than apolitical civil service.
apolitical civil service
which party dominates the (TX) civil service?
IIRC, RickyBobby has polluted the TX civil service with about 4000+ Repug operatives, spies, moles, hacks.
Last edited by boutons_deux; 08-28-2012 at 03:56 PM.
So the civil service isn't apolitical? Make up your mind, boutox.
the civil service should not be political, not be spinning around with each party change of politicians, but with Repugs it's nothing but all politics, all the time, so polluting the civil service with their hacks is, to them, fair game.
Naturally, the democrats are just angels and never played politics.
Interestingly, this is the 3rd round of appeals IIRC. Texas got it moved to an appellate court they thought would be friendly... And, well they weren't.
The whole process is flawed but in a state that is growing as fast as Texas is there is no perfect way to do it. You have to rewrite and add districts.
I knew that there were at least two...didn't one of them refuse to stay the elections for the purpose of waiting for the report of the Justice Dep't. review?
I guess what I'm getting at...do you remember how the various decisions have gone before this? And the current status of the districting?
Well, they switch around all the time regardless.
I remember living in a state for the first twenty years or so of my voting life when, no matter where I seemed to move, the same damn guy I voted against in every election kept getting his district extended to wherever and however far out I moved. That was in a situation where the city was losing population so they kept extending the district boundaries further and further into the county.
So expanding or contracting, district lines are always being withdrawn, but the district I live in now is one of the oddest shaped districts in the history of gerrymandering, I do believe. Even with that though, the congressional seat changed hands in the last election...it gave me hope for my old congressional district in my old state.
Is that where Zero Rodriguez finally got beat?
When was the last time the Democrats had control of the Texas legislature?
The 1960's? The long 'history' has been so one sided it's disgusting. This is just another reason why the single member winner take all district is . This is not the 19th century we can communicate across the state instantaneously.
wrong. by at least two decades. you're not real big on accuracy are you?
like all the other forum blowhards you think indignant righteousness gives you the right to be carelessly wrong about things that are easily checkable. it wasn't until the 1980's that that the tide started turning in Texas.
ignorant, arrogant, PFA analysis
1995. Dems lost the senate for the 1997 session, but still held the house all the way through 2003.
Last edited by coyotes_geek; 08-29-2012 at 08:38 AM.
When Democrats held power, gerrymandering was a-okay.
It was just a ty, but it wasn't illegal.
When Democrats held power, gerrymandering was a-okay.
Leave it to Republican wads to take the extra step, and for you to be clapping and jumping up and down cheering like an idiot.
False. Every Texas redistricting since 1960 has ended up in the courts.
:facepalm
Fair enough. White Democrats probably re-drew districts to limit brown people's voting power as well, I would be more than willing to accede this possibility.
Illegal then, and illegal now.
Now get any Republican on this board to admit their party might have done something that limits minority voting power in a way that is obviously against the Civil Rights Act.
Now that we have established it was illegal in the past, can we agree it is illegal now?
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