Surprise, surprise! You knew this would clear Justice. Now the Court battle starts.
Justice Dept. Clears Texas Redistricting
Democrats' Lawsuit Is Still Pending
By Edward Walsh
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 20, 2003; Page A04
The Justice Department announced last night that a controversial congressional redistricting plan enacted by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature does not violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and can be used in next year's congressional elections.
The decision cleared a major hurdle for the plan, under which Republicans could pick up as many as seven House seats next year. But the plan could still be overturned depending on the outcome of a legal challenge to it in federal court by Texas Democrats.
In a letter to Texas Secretary of State Geoffrey S. Connor (R) that was made public last night, Sheldon T. Bradshaw, principal deputy assistant attorney general in the department's Civil Rights Division, said Attorney General John D. Ashcroft "does not interpose any objection to the specified changes" in the state's congressional district lines that were enacted in October. Under the Voting Rights Act, any changes to congressional districts in several states, most of them in the South, must be approved by the Justice Department before they can take effect.
Texas Democrats, who had predicted that the Bush administration would approve the plan, said it would disenfranchise as many as 3.6 million black and Hispanic voters in the state.
"Until today, no Justice Department had ever approved a plan eliminating a majority-minority congressional district," Rep. Martin Frost (D-Tex.) said in a statement. "But the Bush Justice Department has made itself infamous by approving a plan to eliminate two majority-minority districts."
Frost added that the Texas plan "is the single greatest setback for minority voting rights in the 38-year history of the Voting Rights Act. It would have been laughed out of any other Justice Department -- Republican or Democratic."
Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the Justice Department approval "shows that the map is legal and fair, and will be upheld. We look forward to contesting next year's elections under the new map."
The GOP redistricting plan was the source of high political drama in Texas during much of the year. Democratic state lawmakers twice fled the capital of Austin to deprive the legislature of a quorum, blocking passage of the measure. Republican Gov. Rick Perry called three special sessions of the legislature before the plan was finally approved.
States are required to redraw their congressional and legislative district lines every 10 years following the census. In 2001, Texas Democrats and Republicans could not agree on a plan, throwing the issue into federal court, where a three-judge panel crafted the existing congressional districts that were used in the 2002 elections.
Democrats emerged from the 2002 elections with a 17-to-15 advantage in the state's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. But the same year Republicans took complete control of the state legislature, allowing them to enact new district lines that favor the GOP.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was the driving force behind the new redistricting plan that, if not overturned in court, would virtually ensure Republicans continued control of the U.S. House through at least this decade.
In their lawsuit, Texas Democrats maintain that it is unconstitutional to redraw congressional district lines more than once in a decade. The Colorado Supreme Court recently overturned a GOP-inspired redistricting plan in that state on those grounds, but its decision was based on the Colorado constitution. The Texas constitution does not explicitly prohibit redistricting more than once in a decade.
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