E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse, DC
While we wait for the Supreme Court to give us some indication of what happens next with our elections – they did not issue an opinion this week – the preclearance trial at the DC federal court got underway.
State Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, testified that hearings were held statewide to allow input from all groups and citizens to form a bipartisan basis to redraw political lines.
Under cross-examination, though, Hunter said he was unaware that new political lines in Corpus Christi that eliminated a Latino state House seat also lumped all of his possible competitors into a neighboring district.
His claim that no one had complained about the minority makeup of the new state House districts was refuted with a videotape of Luis Figueroa of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund telling a legislative hearing that eliminating the Corpus Christi seat would be tantamount to a Voting Rights Act violation.
Jose Garza, a lawyer with the Mexican American Legislative Caucus who was questioning Hunter, also told the court that he testified to the same problem before a state House committee.
There were hearings around the state, but it was also the case that there were almost no public hearings in the Legislature. The Congressional map passed through in record time, once the Republicans bothered to produce it. Seemed like the plaintiffs scored some points in the opening round, but it’s early days and there’s a lot of testimony to come, along with some pre-filed written testimony. The state’s case was simply summarized during pre-trial hearings.
In a hearing before the D.C. court, David Schenk, the Texas deputy attorney general, said the state did not intend to discriminate when it drew new political lines.
Without the intent of discrimination, the maps, which do protect Republican minority officeholders, should be approved.
“Texas did the best that it could,” Schenk argued.
I didn’t mean to smash into your car. I totally did the best I could driving, even if I was going 90 on a wet road at night. Without the intent to have an accident, I should be let go without a citation. Yeah, that sounds about right to me. We’ll see what the plaintiffs make of that. As always, Texas Redistricting has more.