Litigation Notes: Challenge to Galveston Co. TX Commissioner Court Map Survives Motion to Dismiss and will Proceed to Trial

By EditorApr 12, 2023

Galveston Co., Texas: The County's adopted commissioner court precinct map for the 2020 cycle, is being challenged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), voting rights organizations, and several individual voters. The claims in the consolidated case center around the maps' elimination of the sole remaining minority-opportunity district. The county had failed to preclear a similar map during the 2010 cycle and was subject to a preliminary injunction by a federal district court to prevent the use of that map. The current map is being challenged on several grounds including racial gerrymandering, minority vote dilution, and intentional racial discrimination under…

Case Updates, Partisan Gerrymandering, Racial Gerrymandering, Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigationlawindepth, Texas

16 States Join in Alabama’s Challenge to the Census Bureau’s Data Privacy Program

By EditorApr 14, 2021

On Monday, 16 states joined Alabama in deriding the U.S. Census Bureau's newly adapted data privacy policy (aka differential privacy) which uses statistical algorithms to distort raw census data before it is released to states and the public. The states who jointly filed as amici in Alabama's lawsuit against the Bureau are Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Utah. The amicus brief filed on behalf of these states lists three "major harms" caused by differential privacy. 1) local redistricting cannot be conducted with any reasonable accuracy; 2)…

Case Updates, Casedocs, DATA and TECHNOLOGY, LATEST, NEWS, RedistrictingAlabama, Alaska, arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, lawindepth, louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, STATENEWS, Texas, Utah, West Virginia

Supreme Court Rules on Texas Redistricting

By EditorJul 09, 2018

Texas - Abbott v. Perez This is the most protracted post-census 2010 litigation to date. The original case challenged the Texas legislatures’ 2011 redistricting maps, but the litigation now centers around a new set of congressional and state legislative maps that Texas adopted in 2013. These “new” maps are actually closely based on the maps that the federal district court overseeing the litigation drew as interim maps under the Supreme Court’s guidance after it determined the initial interim maps went beyond the limited purpose of correcting legal deficiencies in the 2011 maps. . The issue before the Supreme Court this…

Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting LitigationAbbott, Supreme Court, Texas, texas redistricting

Redistrictingonline Monthly Redistricting Update (March 2017)

By EditorApr 04, 2017

Politics Roll Call interviews National Democratic Redistricting Committee Executive Director Kelly Ward about its strategy going into 2020: Watch: Inside the Democrat Party’s National Redistricting Strategy In-Depth Late in 2016, PBS’s American Law Journal gave an in-depth treatment of gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. Hosts interview lawmakers, review the technology behind redistricting and cover reform efforts: Watch: PBS Covers Pennsylvania Gerrymandering and Reform In-Depth Litigation Six years in the making, a federal district court panel released its opinion late last month in the long arduous litigation we call Texas Redistricting. We explain what that means and survey the news coverage in Texas Congressional Districts Invalidated by…

RedistrictingArizona, Florida, reform, Texas, texas redistricting, Virginia

Texas Attorney General’s Statement on Redistricting Court Ruling

By EditorMar 17, 2017

Texas - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released this statement on Monday regarding a federal district court panel's 2-1 ruling that finds several congressional districts drawn by the Texas legislature to be unconstitutional. Click here for more analysis of the case: “We respectfully disagree with the redistricting panel’s majority decision. As Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith observed in his dissent, the challenge to the old 2011 maps - which were never in effect - is moot. The maps currently in use are not the ones adopted by the Texas Legislature in 2011, which are the subject of the court’s opinion. …

RedistrictingTexas, texas redistricting

What’s Next in Texas Redistricting

By EditorMar 17, 2017

On March 10th a federal district court panel in San Antonio Texas ruled that the State legislature’s 2011 congressional redistricting map was drawn in manner that violated the U.S. constitution. The court found several districts in the map were the product of intentional racial discrimination and minority vote dilution. While the ruling was a surprise, considering the case had been drawn out for nearly six years, it was also slightly anti-climactic since the ruling referred to a map that Texas no longer uses as its congressional districts. The court had drawn an interim map in 2012 after finding that some…

Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Race RulesBrennan Center, congressional, Latino, racial gerrymandering, state legislature, States, Texas, texas redistricting

Texas Congressional Districts Invalidated by Federal Court: News Coverage

By EditorMar 16, 2017

Texas - Six years in the making, the federal district court panel released its opinion late last week in the long arduous litigation we call Texas Redistricting. This 2-1 decision is only the beginning since it is in regard to the state legislature's 2011 map, which has since been replaced. The court has yet to consider the 2013 map, which is in place currently, and the state legislative map for the lower house. What is the importance of this decision on a now defunct map? The court could require Texas to return to the preclearance regime, which was overturned in…

Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Litigationcongressional, redistricting, Texas, texas redistricting, Voting Rights Act

Texas Three-Judge Court Cites “Voluminous” Record as Reason Why it Will Take Its Sweet Time on Texas Redistricting

By EditorJan 08, 2017

San Antonio, Texas - Its the biggest, most watched redistricting litigation of the decade; but the Texas redistricting case(s) began in 2011 and no ruling has been forthcoming by the federal district court panel tasked to resolve it. Plaintiff's recently filed a request for the court to make a final decision and the court responded this week with an epic list of just how in the weeds they are with the paperwork. The judges wrote: "The Court continues to diligently work through this voluminous record and the complex legal questions presented in this case and will issue an opinion as…

Redistricting, Redistricting Gerrymanders, Redistricting Race RulesTexas, texas redistricting

Unpacking the Texas Voter ID Decision

By EditorJul 27, 2016

Philadelphia, Pa. - Lyle Denniston of The Nation Constitution Center in Philadelphia writes this thorough review of the Circuit Court's decision in Veasey et al. v. Abbott, which significantly modifies implementation of Texas' voter ID law. It was a 203 page opinion, Denniston details the reasoning of the plurality, concurrences and the dissent. Read more here.

Redistricting, Redistricting Race RulesNational Constitution Center, Texas, voter ID

Meet the Man Behind the Texas Voter ID Lawsuit

By EditorJul 26, 2016

Texas - U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey was a state legislator in Texas when that body passed a comprehensive Voter Identification law. He had misgivings after witnessing the legislative debate and eventually sued. North Texas public radio's Rick Holter sat down with Veasey, who represents Texas' 33rd congressional district, to discuss what brought him to sue and whether he thinks the recent Fifth Circuit ruling will relieve the harms he says it causes to some voters. Listen below.

Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Race RulesTexas, voter ID