Justices revise part of Texas redistricting

Republicans pushed through a redistricting in Georgia after the 2004 election. The result was a new set of political boundaries designed to protect Rep. Phil Gingrey from a Democratic challenge while increasing the chances for GOP opponents to Democratic Reps. John Barrow and Jim Marshall.

Democratic strategists in Congress pressed for new district lines in three states after the last election. None of the efforts came to fruition, though. Officials said Wednesday that Democratic governors balked in all three states.

The result is that the congressional boundaries in those states are unchanged, a disappointment for Democrats hoping to increase the number of competitive seats this fall as they try to overthrow the Republican majority.

DeLay embroiled in controversy
The court’s ruling came in a case in which Texas Republicans embraced controversy at the prodding of DeLay. When they gained control of the state House of Representatives in 2002, he drafted a plan that the GOP eventually pushed through the Legislature.

The result was a gain of several seats for Republicans in 2004. The GOP now has 21 seats in Texas to 11 for the Democrats. Democrats had a 17-15 majority before the shift.

DeLay paid an enormous price. He was indicted on state charges in connection with alleged money-laundering during the 2002 campaign for legislative seats, stepped down as majority leader in the House of Representatives, and eventually resigned this month from Congress.

The ruling that the rights of Hispanic voters had been violated revolved around a newly created district near Laredo, drawn to protect the political future of Republican Rep. Henry Bonilla.

‘No obvious benchmark exists’
Kennedy ruled that the impact was to deny Hispanic voters the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choosing in south and west Texas.

The plan’s “troubling blend of politics and race — and the resulting vote dilution of a group that was beginning to achieve (a) goal of overcoming prior electoral discrimination — cannot be sustained,” he wrote.

Chief Justice John Roberts, participating in his first major voting rights case, rejected that. “The state has drawn a redistricting plan that provides six of seven congressional districts with an effective majority of Latino voting-age citizens in south and west Texas, and it is not possible to provide more,” he said.

Kennedy reached the opposite conclusion with respect to black voters in an area around Fort Worth. Rep. Martin Frost, the area’s former Democratic congressman, is white, and Kennedy wrote that since there had been no competitive primary for 20 years, “no obvious benchmark exists for deciding whether African-Americans could elect their candidate of choice.”

“The fact that African-Americans voted for Frost — in the primary and general elections — could signify he is their candidate of choice,” Kennedy wrote.

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