Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
The Justice Department is suing the State of Texas in federal court over the state’s redrawn state and congressional maps.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who announced the lawsuit Monday, argues Texas’ new districting plan is a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as it disadvantages racial minorities and abridges the power of Black and Latino votes.
“Our complaint today alleges that the redistricting plans approved by the Texas state legislature and signed into law by the Governor will deny Black and Latino voters an equal opportunity to participate in the voting process and to elect representatives of their choice, in violation of the Voting Rights Act,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement. “Our complaint also alleges that several of those districts were drawn with discriminatory intent.”
The State of Texas wasted no time in mounting a staunch defense; state Attorney General Ken Paxton said on his office’s Twitter account that the suit was without merit:
The Department of Justice's absurd lawsuit against our state is the Biden Administration's latest ploy to control Texas voters. I am confident that our legislature's redistricting decisions will be proven lawful, and this preposterous attempt to sway democracy will fail.
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) December 6, 2021
The DOJ alleges the district lines were drawn in such a way that Black and Latino votes will carry less weight; the assertion being that Texas’ new districts would distribute Texas’ racial minority population among numerous districts so that the effect of these votes would be minimal.
Gupta argues, “Texas will gain two new Congressional seats because of its population growth, almost all of which is due to growth in the state’s minority population. However, Texas has designed both of those new seats to have white voting majorities.”
“The congressional plan also deliberately reconfigured a West Texas district to eliminate the opportunity for Latino voters to elect a representative of their choice. This is the third time in three decades where Texas has eliminated a Latino electoral opportunity in this same district, despite previous court determinations that this violates the law.”
Texas’ new district plans were signed into law in 2021, one of numerous new voting measures to emerge nationwide in the wake of the 2020 the presidential election.
Redistricting changes have, for the first time since the 1960s, been made easier across the nation thanks to a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that eliminated preclearance, a rule which had previously prevented (primarily) Southern states from redistricting without first being granted permission by the U.S. Attorney General or U.S. District Court.
“Earlier this year, I noted that this redistricting cycle would be the first to proceed since 1960 without the protection of preclearance,” Garland said in a speech in Washington. “But I also said that the department would use all available authorities and resources to continue protecting the right to vote.”
Garland’s intent is that the court will deny Texas the ability to conduct an election under its current plan and force the state to create new district maps.