Case Filing: Patino v. City of Pasadena

Case Filing: Patino v. City of Pasadena

Voters represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund filed suit this past November claiming minority vote dilution against the City of Pasadena, Texas. At issue is a change in the voting procedures for the eight member city council. Voters in the city recently passed a proposition to change from eight single member districts to a hybrid system of six single member districts and two at-large seats. Plaintiffs claim that this "will reduce Hispanic voting strength and will impede Hispanic voters’ ability to elect candidates of choice in subsequent in Pasadena City Council elections."   Read the Complaint here.
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Why A San Antonio Court Will Consider Preclearance for Texas

The Texas legislature seemed to be moving on from the fight over its 2011 redistricting maps. The Supreme Court mooted the case against its maps in Shelby v. Holder by invalidating section 4 of the Voting Rights Act this past summer. The San Antonio court litigation considering additional claims against the maps from several plaintiffs, has stalled in the wake of the Shelby decision, but not before arranging the creation of new, temporary redistricting maps used for the 2012 election. The temporary maps became permanent after the Texas legislature and governor enacted the court-sanctioned maps. Texas officials would have liked…
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