Judges approve Republicans' congressional map for Texas
It appears that this whole sorry episode may finally, inexorably, be grinding to a halt. Tom DeLay would appear to have his majority, Republicans have been handed their gerrymandered majority, and minorities are on the outside looking in? Gee; minorities ignored and marginalized by Republicans?? I'm shocked....
AUSTIN -- A three-judge federal court today upheld a Republican congressional redistricting plan against claims that it harms minority voting rights, but the court sharply criticized the process of adopting the map as a threat to the system of fair elections.
"We decide only the legality of (the plan), not its wisdom," the court's opinion reads. "Whether the Texas Legislature has acted in the best interest of Texas is a judgment that belongs to the people who elected those officials whose act is challenged in this case."
Democrats criticized the decision and promised an immediate appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Five of the court's nine justices would have to agree to hear the appeal to halt the plan's use in the 2004 elections....
But District Judge John Ward, in a dissent, said the redrawing of District 23 -- now represented by U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio -- violated the voting rights of Hispanics.
The Legislature split Laredo into two districts to make Bonilla's district more Republican. The court majority accepted lawmakers contention that any harm to Laredo Hispanics was offset by the creation of a new 25th District in South Texas.
"The majority errs when it holds that the state may permissibly 'trade off' the rights of minority voters in former District 23 for those in new District 25, a district created to assist the state with its (U.S. Justice Department) pre-clearance efforts," Ward wrote in his dissent.
Ward said he would have enjoined the map, instructed the Legislature on how to fix it and ordered this year's elections to be held under the map that was used in 2002
Of course, the Republican Anglo majority in Texas will not be impacted negatively in the slightest. Nor, I suspect, do they really much care about the fate of minority voters. Tom DeLay's redistricting map merely codifies this discrimination against and non-acknowledgement of minority voters.
This plan appears now to be what Texans are stuck with, for good or ill. The question for Democrats is whether or not we can find a way to make lemonade out of lemons? It's not looking good at the moment, is it?
