For the first time, someone says out loud the rumor of a special session on redistricting. Attorney General Greg Abbott let House members know in the Republican caucus meeting on Tuesday that he expects and is hoping for a special session on redistricting — sooner than later. Several lawmakers in the meeting confirmed that Abbott [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Voting Rights Act’
Ana Reyes makes history in Farmers Branch
I didn’t pay much attention to Saturday’s elections, since there was nothing on the ballot for me and there were few races of interest around the state. One place where there were races worth watching was in Farmers Branch, and the news from there was excellent. Ana Reyes became the first Hispanic to win a [...]
So where does redistricting stand?
From Texas Redistricting: The Texas Legislature is in the final stretch of its regular session (sine die on May 27), and, at this point, in the calendar, if anything gets done, it looks like it will have to start on the Senate side. Although a couple of redistricting bills – along with some proposals for [...]
Redistricting remains a partisan issue
We’re not surprised by this, right? Amarillo Sen. Kel Seliger offered a redistricting bill to the Senate State Affairs Committee that would formally adopt interim maps drawn by a federal court in San Antonio last year. The maps for Congressional, state Senate and House districts were used for the 2012 election while a federal court [...]
Senate committee to take up interim maps bill
From Texas Redistricting: The Texas Senate’s state affairs committee has scheduled a hearing for Thursday, April 18, at 2 p.m. (or upon adjournment) to consider SB 1524 – State Sen. Kel Seliger’s bill to adopt the court-drawn interim maps as permanent. As drafted, the bill would apply to all three maps that are currently in [...]
Still pondering Abbott’s redistricting motives
The Trib’s Ross Ramsey wonders what Greg Abbott is up to. Greg Abbott is selling a redistricting nostrum, telling Texas legislators they could cut their legal risks by adopting new political maps right away. It is a hard sell. Lawmakers are getting along so well they practically break out into song every day. Abbott, the [...]
Voter ID and the Driver Responsibility Program
Grits returns to a question he has asked before. The Dallas News last week (March 24) published a feature behind the paywall by reporter Terrence Stutz titled “Texas lawmakers want brakes put on driver surcharges for road violations,” as well as an editorial on the public part of their site calling for the repeal of [...]
Advising the court on redistricting
Last Friday, all parties to the Texas redistricting lawsuit submitted their advisories to the San Antonio court, in which they told the court what they think it should do once the Supreme Court has rendered a decision on the Voting Rights Act. You can see what they all had to say there, or you can [...]
Abbott asks for the interim maps
Very interesting. The recently dormant Texas redistricting issue woke up Thursday with a disagreement between the state’s attorney general and a Latino legislators’ group. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has called on the Legislature to make the current — and interim — redistricting maps permanent. Abbott’s letter to Texas House Speaker Joe Straus — which [...]
The redistrictor’s dilemma
Some fascinating news from Texas Redistricting. Friday’s bill filing deadline in the Texas Legislature brought bills by State Rep. Drew Darby (R-San Angelo) – chair of the House redistricting committee – and State Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo) to make permanent the three interim maps drawn by the San Antonio court last year. The identical bills [...]
Is Section 5 doomed?
While there’s been a lot of reporting and analysis suggesting a grim future for the Voting Rights Act, SCOTUSBlog’s Lyle Denniston suggests that maybe, just maybe, Section 5 ain’t dead yet. Sometimes, in Supreme Court argument, a single phrase can speak volumes. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the one member of the Court who bore the [...]
How should the San Antonio court proceed after SCOTUS rules on Section 5?
That’s what the San Antonio judges in the redistricting case asked the parties to help it figure out. In its order, the court told parties what has been widely assumed – namely that the panel would “not issue any opinion, if at all, under after the Supreme Court resolves the Section 5 matters.” However, the [...]
Single member districts for Farmers Branch
Another long battle comes to an end. A Dallas federal judge has directed Farmers Branch to implement single-member City Council districts after the U.S. Justice Department signed off on the city’s proposed map. The move could set the stage for a fiery May 11 election in which the outcome may provide the suburb of 29,000 [...]
Looks like we’ll be waiting on SCOTUS for awhile
Texas Redistricting: The Texas redistricting appeal wasn’t on the list of cases reviewed by the Justices at their screening conference today. With the passage of time – and the case not even being listed for review – the calendar now makes it highly unlikely that the court could take up the case even if it [...]
SCOTUS has not taken up the Texas redistricting lawsuit yet
Texas Redistricting: No decision announced [Friday at the Supreme Court about whether the court will hear the Texas redistricting case. The court, however, could issue additional orders on Monday. The Justices haven’t had these briefs for long, so it’s not surprising they haven’t taken action yet. They have conferences on January 11 and 18, and [...]
SCOTUS voter ID update
The matter is officially with the Supreme Court now. A federal court deferred further proceedings in a lawsuit filed by Texas over the state’s voter identification law until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on whether part of the Voting Rights Act is constitutional. A three-judge panel in Washington said today that “in the interest of [...]
Where redistricting stands with SCOTUS
From Texas Redistricting: What happens now in the Supreme Court? With the filing of motions to affirm or dismiss last week by the Justice Department and intervenors, Texas’ appeal of the preclearance ruling is now ready for review by the Justices. Under Rule 18 of the Supreme Court rules, the clerk of the Supreme Court [...]
Plaintiffs want to proceed with new redistricting maps
Texas Redistricting: Plaintiff groups in the Texas redistricting litigation in San Antonio told the court that it should go ahead and start the process of drawing remedial state house and congressional maps for use in 2014, but disagreed slightly about the timing of the process. Under proposals from two plaintiff groups, the state would have [...]
Parties split on waiting for SCOTUS
Texas Redistricting: Lawyers for the Justice Department and intervenors in the Texas voter ID case told the court yesterday that the court should put off consideration of Texas’ claim that section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional until the Supreme Court decides the pending Shelby County v. Holder case next year. That case involves a [...]
Voter ID case will likely wait for SCOTUS, too
Texas Redistricting: In a move not too surprising, the three-judge panel in the Texas voter ID case also has asked the parties to brief the question of whether the court should delay taking up questions about the constitutionality of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act given Supreme Court’s grant of cert. in Shelby County [...]
Shall we wait for SCOTUS?
Texas Redistricting: The three-judge panel in San Antonio overseeing redrawing of Texas’ redistricting plans has signaled that it is at least considering the possibility of delaying action on new maps until the Supreme Court decides questions about the constitutionality of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, asking the parties to brief by December 3 [...]
Harris County redistricting lawsuit kicks off
Remember the lawsuit that was filed over the redistricting map for Harris County Commissioners Court? It’s been on hold since the beginning of the year, after an interim map was drawn to get us through this election and since the main point of contention in the new map was not an issue yet. Now that [...]
SCOTUS to review Section 5
Gird your loins. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge brought by Shelby County, Alabama to the continued constitutionality of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. In its order taking the case, the high court limited the issues before the court to the question of “[w]hether Congress’ decision in 2006 to reauthorize [...]
Texas appeals DC Court redistricting decision
I suppose this was inevitable. Texas is appealing a federal court decision that denied preclearance to legislatively drawn redistricting maps, saying the court overstepped its authority under the federal Voting Rights Act, Attorney General Greg Abbott announced late Friday. That appeal won’t affect the current election. [...] Earlier this year — after the elections were [...]
A national view on redistricting
The Atlantic has an interesting view of the redistricting process. Every 10 years, after U.S. census workers have fanned out across the nation, a snowy-haired gentleman by the name of Tom Hofeller takes up anew his quest to destroy Democrats. He packs his bag and his laptop with its special Maptitude software, kisses his wife [...]
The “dead voter” saga still has some life in it
Looks like I spoke too soon when I said that the “dead voter” purge story was over. Remember that lawsuit filed by four voters and the temporary injunction granted by a Travis County judge forbidding the Secretary of State from further instructing the counties to remove any other names from the voter rolls? On Friday, [...]
Voting-related lawsuit updates
From Texas Redistricting: The three-judge panel presiding over the Texas voter ID entered an order this morning adopting a briefing schedule for questions about the constitutionality of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. With minor differences, the schedule tracks the proposal made by lawyers for the Justice Department and intervenors. Here’s the schedule: Texas [...]
More on Texas proving the need for the Voting Rights Act
From the DMN: “There have been growing arguments that the Voting Rights Act is obsolete and should be struck down,” says University of Michigan law professor Ellen Katz, a nationally recognized expert on the Voting Rights Act. “But [Gov.] Rick Perry and the state of Texas, through their overreach in these cases, may have just [...]
The state of Texas has already proven the case for the Voting Rights Act
So as you know, the state of Texas had its rear end handed to it in both the redistricting and voter ID preclearance lawsuits. Both of these rulings will be appealed to the Supreme Court, with the ultimate goal being a constitutional challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which is the provision [...]
Federal court refuses to preclear Texas voter ID bill
Another bad day in court for Texas Republicans. A federal three-judge panel on Thursday blocked the Texas voter ID law passed by the Republican Legislature, saying the new restrictions would place an unfair burden on Latinos, racial minorities and the poor. The ruling by the federal panel is the second blow to Texas in as [...]
Federal court denies preclearance on all redistricting maps
The long-awaited ruling in the preclearance lawsuit by the DC Court
Poli Sci profs against voter ID
Rice political science professor Mark Jones writes an op-ed in the Chron that does a thorough job of dissecting Texas’ contentious voter ID law. Nearly one out of every three Texas counties lacks an operational DPS office, and no office is open after 6 p.m. or on weekends. DPS offices in the largest urban counties [...]
Voter ID trial wraps up
I didn’t follow the day to day reports from the voter ID preclearance trial, mostly because there wasn’t anything in the testimony that was truly unexpected. Lots of numbers, some of questionable provenance, were presented. The state continued to claim that nobody would be prevented from voting, not even the people who don’t have drivers [...]