Plaintiffs make final push over Texas voting map
SAN ANTONIO — Minority groups made a final push Thursday to have new redistricting maps tossed out, arguing in court that the new election lines violate federal law by diminishing Hispanics' voting strength and failing to recognize a surge in their population over the past decade in Texas.
Plaintiffs, during closing arguments before a panel of three federal judges, said the new Republican-drawn voting districts in Texas should be redrawn because the maps pack Hispanics into white districts, illegally diluting their voting power. The groups also want more districts in which Latinos have enough voting strength to select their candidates of choice.
"Latinos will vote for candidates who appeal to their values and concerns," said Nina Perales, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "Latinos deserve the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choosing and to have candidates of all parties compete for their vote."
The state will present its closing argument Friday morning. The court isn't expected to issue a ruling for several weeks.
The new congressional map passed this summer by the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature was drawn with the goal of protecting and possibly expanding state's 23-9 Republican majority in Washington.
The Texas attorney general's office said the map wasn't drawn with prejudice and preserves the voting power of minorities. During the nine-day trial, Republicans testified that alternatives offered by minority groups were drawn in a way that violated Texas law by splitting counties.
In closing arguments, Perales argued that traditional blocs of Hispanic voters were intentionally weakened in Nueces, Cameron and Hidalgo counties and in El Paso County. In each case, she said there was enough Hispanic population to create new Hispanic opportunity districts.
"All the preconditions for creating additional Latino opportunity districts are there, but the state did not create a single additional district in either the state House or the congressional plan," she said.
Texas received four new seats in the U.S. House following the last census population count. That was more than any other state and came in the wake of a population boom overwhelmingly driven by Hispanics.
Plaintiffs argued that the surge in Hispanic growth warranted those residents getting more representation in new districts, yet the Republican plan splits Hispanic and black communities so conservative white residents would be more likely to win seats in Congress.
Attorneys for the state have said the map does create two new minority districts, but plaintiffs say that's funny math.
"When you take two out and put two in, where is it?" asked attorney Gerald Hebert. "Well it ain't there. And it's tragic ... it's tragic and it's unconstitutional."
The Texas NAACP, also one of the plaintiffs, said growth in the black population also warranted another black congressional seat. But attorney Gary Bledsoe said the only black members of Congress from Texas were cut out of the map drawing process.
"There was no public testimony after the maps came out. That's kind of incredible to me," said Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP. "We think that all three of the current African American congressional districts should be changed. We think if you start looking at fairness, there should be at least an additional African American opportunity district" preferably in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Under the Voting Rights Act, new Texas maps must be cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure the changes do not diminish minority representation. That case is pending in Washington.
