U.S. court voids 3 Texas congressional districts

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal court panel late Friday invalidated three Republican-drawn congressional districts in Texas for violating the U.S. Voting Rights Act.

>> Read more trending news

However, in voiding the districts, drawn by the Texas Legislature in 2011, the panel did not mandate or discuss any remedies to correct the problems.

But the long-awaited ruling has the potential to create more districts with larger populations of Latino voters, "and probably more Democratic districts, which would be good for Democrats in Texas, and also nationally," said Michael Li, redistricting counsel at the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

The panel, in a 2-1 ruling, said District 35 — held by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin — was improperly drawn with race as the predominant factor to minimize the number of Democrat districts and to attempt to unseat Doggett by boosting the Hispanic population, making it more likely that voters would choose a Latino candidate.

“The political motive does not excuse or negate that use of race; rather, the use of race is ultimately problematic for precisely that reason — because of their political motive, they intentionally drew a district based on race in a location where such use of race was not justified by a compelling state interest,” the ruling said.

By drawing Doggett’s district with a majority Hispanic population extending into San Antonio, the Republican-controlled Legislature was able to “create the facade of complying” with the Voting Rights Act while eliminating an existing Democratic district, the panel ruled.

The panel also invalidated District 23, held by U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, and District 27, which includes southern Bastrop County and is held by U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi.

The ruling, by U.S. District Judges Xavier Rodriguez and Orlando Garcia based on a trial that ended in August 2014, could have a ripple effect. By requiring the three districts to be redrawn, the judges’ order would change the lines on an undetermined number of nearby districts.

Looking at Hurd’s district, the judges determined that the Texas Legislature drew its lines to manipulate Latino voter turnout with “the intent and effect of diluting Latino voter opportunity.”

"Defendants' decision to place Nueces County Hispanic voters in an Anglo district had the effect and was intended to dilute their opportunity to elect their candidate of choice," said the 196-page ruling, including a dissent by Justice Jerry Smith.

Friday’s order also said that plaintiffs who challenged the map had proved that the Legislature intentionally diluted votes “through packing and cracking” District 26 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The order, however, mentioned nothing about invalidating that district, most likely because it had been redrawn in 2013 and the court panel was assessing the legality of the 2011 map, Li said.

The order also did not specify how the invalidated maps should be corrected, but normal practice would be to have the Texas Legislature redraw the congressional lines, Li said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also could ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the order, Li said.

Paxton also could ask the panel to halt the effect of its ruling while the appeal proceeded. If denied, Texas also could ask the Supreme Court to stay the ruling.

“Tonight is a victory for the voting rights of all Texans,” Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, said Friday. “Republicans have ensured that the dark days of discrimination in Texas continue to loom, but the sun will soon shine. In time, justice prevails.”

Writing in dissent, Smith said the opinion by the panel majority tended to “miss the forest for the trees.”

“Texas redistricting in 2011 was essentially about politics, not race. All sides concede that — whether it is a good thing or not — Texas has a strong correlation between race and party,” Smith wrote. “It naturally follows that actions taken to disadvantage Democrats will disproportionately affect non-Anglo voters, regardless of the intent.”

Cox Media Group