Fixing district lines
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling hints at a course for Texas to redraw congressional maps.
Our state’s elected leadership has to make a lot of decisions in the waning days of the Legislature’s regular session, but we feel compelled to remind them that a federal judge just added another item to the list.
Judge Xavier Rodriguez, on behalf of a three-judge panel in San Antonio overseeing a major voting rights case, has given the state until Friday to consider whether it would like a special session of the Legislature to redraw the maps of Texas congressional districts. That development comes compliments of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a North Carolina case that seems destined to have a profound impact on Texas.
The nation’s highest court ruled earlier this week that North Carolina legislators illegally diluted the political power of African-American voters by cramming them into congressional districts deliberately drawn along racial lines. In the past, the justices have ruled it’s perfectly legal for state lawmakers to draw districts that benefit their political parties, but this week’s decision made it clear the Supreme Court won’t stand for racial gerrymandering.
The ruling was cheered by attorneys fighting a similar redistricting case in Texas. Two months ago, the judges on that San Antonio panel ruled Texas lawmakers intentionally diluted the clout of minority voters by packing them into as few congressional districts as possible. Attorneys arguing on behalf of the state said the gerrymandering was legal because it was motivated by party politics, not race.
That’s the same argument states have made in voting rights cases like this for decades now. But the stark political truth is that race and politics are now deeply intertwined because black and Latino voters generally cast their ballots for Democrats. Republican lawmakers drawing legislative districts know that, and it’s no secret they’ve deliberately drawn maps taking full advantage of this political reality. So this latest Supreme Court decision has been hailed as a major victory for voting rights groups and a clear signal the map of congressional districts in Texas is doomed to be redrawn.
We wish the justices would muster the courage to take their decision a step further. Whether it’s motivated by race or party, gerrymandering today amounts to nothing than more than politicians preserving their jobs by using sophisticated computer programs to essentially rig elections. It doesn’t just dilute the political clout of minority voters, it also dilutes the political clout of all citizens living in congressional districts drawn to ensure a predetermined outcome on Election Day.
If the courts won’t put a stop to this process, Texas lawmakers could take action. For years now, a couple of state legislators have repeatedly sponsored bills that would create an independent redistricting commission. At least 21 states have already taken that step, pulling the redistricting process out of the hands of legislators and turning the job over to appointed commissioners. Of course, nothing would remove all partisanship from the drawing of district maps, but it would be a bold leap in the right direction. Instead of legislators picking their voters, voters would once again pick their legislators in November elections.
Alas, that idea went nowhere in the current session of the Texas Legislature. Now it’s looking more and more like our state lawmakers will return for a special session. And after what happened in the courts this week, if our legislators don’t use that session to redraw the state’s illegal congressional maps, some judges could well do it for them.