Drawing legislative and congressional districts is an inherently partisan political game, but any game needs some bounds.
Republican redistricting efforts in Texas and Colorado in 2003 were clearly out of bounds, and the nation was reminded on Friday how outrageous the Texas scheme was.
It was revealed that U.S. Justice Department officials, including top people in the Voting Rights Division, concluded in 2003 that the Texas congressional plan violated the Voting Rights Act. But more senior Justice officials overruled them and approved the plan, enabling Texas Republicans to draw congressional districts favorable to their party and gain additional seats in the U.S. House in 2004. The remap helped solidify GOP control of Congress.
Former Justice Department lawyer Mark Posner said the action was highly unusual and raises all kinds of questions, the most obvious being political motivation. The Texas redistricting plan was spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, currently awaiting a ruling on whether he will stand trial on charges of conspiracy and money laundering in connection with 2002 Texas legislative elections. GOP gains in those elections created the majority needed to push the congressional district plan.
The controversy gained national attention when Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state, trying to block a vote on the GOP remap plan by preventing a quorum. Eventually, they capitulated and the vote went ahead. It was challenged in federal court on grounds it violated the 1965 federal voting rights act, a law that protects minority voting rights. In the meantime, the plan was submitted to the Justice Department for review as required by the 1965 law.
The Texas scheme was brewing while Colorado had its own gerrymander crisis.
The Republican-controlled legislature redrew district lines in the final hours of the 2003 legislative session, and Gov. Bill Owens quickly signed the plan into law, tossing out a map ordered by a state court the previous year. Then-Attorney General Ken Salazar challenged the plan on the grounds that it was invalid to redraw congressional district lines more than once a decade, especially after one election had already occurred. The Colorado Supreme Court threw out the GOP plan, and Republican appeals to the federal courts failed.
The court challenge to the Texas plan is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. It would be good for the nation if the court agrees to take the case and finally cleans up this mess.
