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2003 Texas Redistricting Information

The 2003 Texas redistricting refers to a controversial mid-decade congressional redistricting plan appealed to the United States Supreme Court in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry. On June 28, 2006, the Supreme Court upheld the statewide redistricting as Constitutional, but struck down Congressional District 23 as racial gerrymandering in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Contents

Overview

After Republicans won control of the Texas state legislature in 2002, for the first time in 130 years, they set their sights on establishing a majority of House of Representatives seats held by their party. After the 2002 election, Democrats had a 17-15 edge in House seats representing Texas, although the state's voters voted for Republicans in congressional races by an 17-15 margin.[1] After a protracted partisan struggle, the legislature enacted a new congressional districting map, Plan 1374C, introduced in the Texas House by Representative Phil King of Weatherford. In the 2004 congressional elections, Republicans won 21 seats to the Democrats' 11.[2]

The 2003 redistricting effort was extremely controversial, particularly because of the role played by Congressman Tom DeLay. Texas had never undertaken a mid-decade redistricting that was not ordered by a court. Legal challenges to the redistricting plan were mounted on several fronts. On June 28, 2006, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an opinion that threw out one of the districts in the plan as a violation of the Voting Rights Act and ordered the lower court to produce a remedial plan, which it did in Plan 1440C. The Supreme Court ruling was not seen as seriously threatening Republican gains from the 2004 elections.[3]

2000–2003 evolution and DeLay's role

Redistricting in Texas was traditionally done once every ten years, soon after the National Census. A redistricting occurred in 1991, when the Democrats held both the governor's seat (with Ann Richards) and a legislative majority. By 2000, Republican George W. Bush was governor, with Republican Rick Perry as his lieutenant governor.

After the 2000 elections, however, Democrats maintained their majority in the Texas legislature. In 2001, the Democrats and Republicans were unable to agree on a new district map to correspond with the 2000 census. Per state law, under these circumstances, the matter could be submitted to a panel of judges. The Republican minority recommended this solution. Accordingly, the matter was forwarded for this type of review, and the judges drew a new map, which maintained a 17 to 15 Democratic majority.[4] Under the Texas Constitution, the Legislative Redistricting Board (LRB) convenes only when the state legislature is unable to approve a redistricting plan in the first legislative session following the National Census. In June, 2001, the redistricting task passed to the LRB after the state legislature failed to pass a redistricting plan.[5]

In September, 2001, Texas Representative Tom DeLay organized Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), a political action committee designed to gather campaign funds for Republican candidates throughout Texas. TRMPAC was modeled closely after DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority (ARMPAC), a federal-level organization created to raise funds for Republicans during the 2000 national elections.[6] Simultaneously, as has been well documented in the media, DeLay played a key role in the ongoing Texas redistricting effort.

In 2002, a Republican majority was elected to the State House of Representatives, giving the GOP control of both chambers. (Republicans had had a majority in the State Senate since 1997.)

During the 2003 legislative session, under the encouragement of Tom DeLay and Governor Rick Perry, the Republican majority introduced legislation to redraw the districts from 2001. This legislation was taken to federal court, where a three judge panel declared that it violated neither the Texas Constitution nor the Voting Rights Act.[7] Because the Democrats did not have enough votes to stop the legislature from passing the plan, 52 Democrats from the House of Representative left for Oklahoma in order to prevent a quorum. These 52 Democrats were known as the "Killer Ds". They later returned to the state after receiving a promise that redistricting would not be brought up in the regular session.

In the summer of 2003, Governor Rick Perry called a special legislative session in order to continue the redistricting effort. The Democrats had over 1/3 of the seats in the Senate and prevented the redistricting legislature from being voted on due to the two-thirds rule. After finding a way around the two-thirds rule, Governor Perry called for a second special session half an hour later. Eleven out of twelve of the Democratic Senators left for Albuquerque, New Mexico to prevent a quorum, and were nicknamed the Texas Eleven. After a month-long stand off, Senator John Whitmire returned to the Senate and the redistricting legislature was passed at a third special legislative session. After the 2004 elections, Texas's U.S. House delegation had a Republican majority for the first time since Reconstruction.

An article in the March 6, 2006, issue of The New Yorker magazine, written by Jeffrey Toobin, quoted Texas's junior Republican Senator John Cornyn as saying, "Everybody who knows Tom knows that he's a fighter and a competitor, and he saw an opportunity to help the Republicans stay in power in Washington." Toobin also noted that DeLay left Washington and returned to Texas to oversee the project while final voting was underway in the state legislature, and that "several times during the long days of negotiating sessions, DeLay personally shuttled proposed maps among House and Senate offices in Austin."[8]

Texas Monthly editor Paul Burka, writing in the magazine's May 2006 issue, labelled the measure as "DeLay's midcensus congressional redistricting plan" and stated "in order to increase his Republican majority in Congress, he [DeLay] resorted to a midcensus redistricting plan."[9]

Justice Department involvement

U.S. congressional districts covering Travis County, Texas (outlined in red) in 2002, left, and 2004, right. In 2003, the majority of Republicans in the Texas legislature redistricted the state, diluting the voting power of the heavily Democratic county by parceling its residents out to more Republican districts.

In December 2005, the Washington Post reported, "Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo" uncovered by the newspaper.[10] The document, endorsed by six Justice Department attorneys, said "the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts."

"The State of Texas has not met its burden in showing that the proposed congressional redistricting plan does not have a discriminatory effect," the memo noted. The article also stated that Justice Department lawyers "found that Republican lawmakers and state officials who helped craft the proposal were aware it posed a high risk of being ruled discriminatory compared with other options." Nonetheless, Texas legislators proceeded with the new plan "because it would maximize the number of Republican federal lawmakers in the state," the Post said about the document.

Criticism of the plan

Democrats criticized the 2003 redistricting, citing the lack of precedent for redistricting twice in a decade, considering it had already been done in 2002, and argued that it was being done for purely political gain and was therefore gerrymandering. Statements by some Republicans lent support to this claim, since many publicly stated their expectations of picking up several Republican seats. Some minority groups argued the plan was unconstitutional, as it would dilute their influence and possibly violate the "one-person-one-vote" principle of redistricting. Republicans counterargued, however, that since most voters in the state were Republicans, it was appropriate that the party have a majority in the federal legislative delegation.

The results of the 2004 elections brought Texas Republicans a majority of House seats by a 21-11 margin, a 2/1 ratio in terms of seats. This is bigger than the 61/38 voting ratio in the Presidential race, with former State Governor W. Bush, and even more than the cumulated results in the 32 House races, at 56/40/3 (with the two main parties not running in four districts).[11]

2006 Supreme Court review

The Supreme Court of the United States issued an opinion on the case in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry on June 28, 2006. While the Court said states are free to redistrict however often they like, the justices invalidated Texas's District 23, citing a Section 2 violation of the Voting Rights Act. This decision will require lawmakers to adjust boundaries in line with the Court's ruling.[3]

On June 29, 2006, a U. S. District Judge as part of a three judge panel, under an order from the U. S. Court of Appeals, overseeing the redistricting ordered that both sides should submit proposed maps by July 14, respond to their opponents' maps by July 21, and that oral arguments will occur on August 3.[12]

Democrats targeted by redistricting

The 2003 redistricting targeted ten white, Democratic incumbents avoiding all seven minority Democratic incumbents.[13]

In addition, the redistricting sought to protect Hispanic Republican Henry Bonilla (TX-23), who had faced a stiff challenge from conservative Democrat Henry Cuellar in 2002, and to neutralize liberal Democrat Ciro Rodriguez. This was done by putting the two Democrats in the same district and forcing them to run against each other for the Democratic nomination (Cuellar won). In 2006, however, Bonilla's district had to be redrawn due to a Supreme Court ruling concerning the representation of Hispanic voters in redistricting. This necessitated a special election, in which Bonilla faced six Democratic candidates and an independent in a jungle primary, and was then defeated by Ciro Rodriguez in the run-off.

See also

References

  1. ^ "2002 ELECTION STATISTICS". Archived from the original on 2009-09-12. http://www.webcitation.org/5jkP17Q5S. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
  2. ^ "FindLaw | Cases and Codes". Caselaw.lp.findlaw.com. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=05-204. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  3. ^ a b "Justices Back Most G.O.P. Changes to Texas Districts". The New York Times. June 28, 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/28/washington/28cnd-scotus.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.
  4. ^ [1], League of United Latin American Citizens, et al. v. Perry, Governor of Texas, et al. 2006
  5. ^ Bickerstaff, Steve (2007). Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom Delay. University of Texas Press. p. 46. ISBN 0-292-71474-2.
  6. ^ Bickerstaff, Steve (2007). Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom Delay. University of Texas Press. p. 49. ISBN 0-292-71474-2.
  7. ^ "Texas Redistricting Cases: League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, Travis County Texas v. Perry, Jackson v. Perry, and GI Forum of Texas v. Perry (consolidated)". Law.duke.edu. http://www.law.duke.edu/publiclaw/supremecourtonline/certgrants/2005/texasred.html. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  8. ^ Toobin, Jeffrey (2006-02-06). "Drawing the Line — Will Tom Delay's Redistricting in Texas Cost Him His Seat?". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/03/06/060306fa_fact. Retrieved 2006-02-06.
  9. ^ [2]
  10. ^ Eggen, Dan (December 2, 2005). "Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal". washingtonpost.com. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/01/AR2005120101927.html. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  11. ^ Washington Post's Texas 2004 Election Results. GOP 3,833,932 ; Dems 2,709,749 ; Others 217,460.
  12. ^ Castro, April (2006-06-29). "July 14 deadline set on redistricting plans | Front page | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle". Chron.com. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4013182.html. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  13. ^ Bickerstaff, Steve (2007). Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom Delay. University of Texas Press. pp. 98–101. ISBN 0-292-71474-2.

Bibliography

External links

Categories: 2003 Texas redistricting

 

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