Racial Gerrymandering Lawsuit Filed Against Texas Voting Map
Over the summer, Texas triggered a nationwide redistricting battle by redrawing its congressional maps to protect the Republican Party’s narrow majority in the House of Representatives. A panel of federal judges is set to review the map after several civil rights groups filed a lawsuit accusing the Texas redistricting effort of being little more than racial gerrymandering.
According to AP, the NAACP and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed the lawsuit in late August, arguing that the new map violates the Civil Rights Act of 1965 by intentionally undermining the influence of Black and Hispanic voters. “There is growing animus against African-American and other communities who have historically been disenfranchised,” said Derrick Johnson, the NAACP’s national president. “This is consistent with the current climate and culture germinating from the White House.”
The new map eliminates five of the nine “coalition” districts in the state, where no one minority group has the majority, but they collectively outnumber white voters. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office argued in a court filing that the map isn’t a racial gerrymander, but simply a partisan gerrymander, which the Supreme Court ruled legal in 2019. “Whenever they do not get what they want, they cry racism,” the filing said.
You know, when you spend most of your time disenfranchising Black voters, erasing DEI, and minimizing the importance of Black History in education, people are going to call you racist. If you don’t want to be called racist, don’t do racist things. It’s a simple calculus.
The hearing is expected to last longer than a week, and it’s unclear how soon the judges will come to a ruling.
The Texas redistricting effort was long and fraught. It began in July when President Donald Trump asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to start a rare, mid-decade redistricting effort to protect the GOP’s House majority. Gov. Abbott complied and used the devastating Kerr County floods as an excuse to call a special legislative session. Instead of focusing on providing flood relief for the hundreds affected, the state legislature got to work on drafting a new legislative map that adds five new House seats in districts Trump won in the 2024 election.
State Democrats fought back against the Texas redistricting effort as best they could. At one point, they fled the state to deny Texas Republicans the quorum necessary to vote on the new map. This resulted in Gov. Abbott calling for their arrest and even U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tx.) asking the FBI to hunt them down. The Texas Democrats’ walkout resulted in the first special session ending without a vote on the map, though Gov. Abbott quickly announced a second special session.
When the Texas Democrats returned to the state, they were required to agree to police surveillance to leave the House. This resulted in State Rep. Nicole Collier being held political prisoner on the House floor after refusing to sign the agreement. Collier was eventually joined by fellow Democrats after tearing up their agreements. The new map was eventually passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Abbott.
The Texas redistricting effort was just the start of the GOP’s attempt to gerrymander a win in next year’s midterms. Missouri recently saw through a redistricting effort that potentially will give Republicans one extra House seat, with Florida and Indiana considering redistricting efforts of their own.
Many Democrat-led states are unable to go tit-for-tat in the redistricting battle due to control of their congressional maps being controlled by an independent committee and not the state legislature. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the “Election Rigging Response Act” in August. A special election will be held on Nov. 4, where California voters will decide if control of the maps remains with the independent committee or temporarily transfers to the state legislature through 2030. Should voters transfer power to the state legislature, Gov. Newsom intends to implement a new congressional map that neutralizes the gains made in Texas.
If the panel of judges finds that Texas needs to redraw its map, California could significantly alter the math in next year’s midterms.
SEE ALSO:
Texas Democrats Will Return To State After Special Session Ends
Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom Counters Texas Redistricting Effort With One Of His Own
Redistricting: Majority Black Voting Maps Rejected In Louisiana
Critics Call Texas Governor’s New Congressional Map Gerrymandering
US Senator John Cornyn, FBI Team Up To Hunt Texas Democrats
Texas State Dems Break Quorum To Prevent Redistricting Vote
Gov. Greg Abbott Orders Arrest Of Texas Democrats
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Sues To Remove Democratic Rep In Redistricting Fight
Racial Gerrymandering Lawsuit Filed Against Texas Voting Map was originally published on newsone.com
