Supreme Court Overturns Part Of Texas Congressional Map

MSNBC ^ | 6/28/2006 | MSNBC

[Smogger]

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned part of a Texas congressional map engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Challengers — Democrats and minority groups — had asked the court to declare the redrawn districts unconstitutional.

Republicans said the new map better reflects the voting patterns of the state and deny minority voting rights were violated.

[ArcadeQuarters]

Hmmm. Maybe Republicans can create the required Hispanic district by carving up a Democratic stronghold and in the process create another Republican seat.

[Theodore R.]

It appears that the ruling will have no practical consequences, but this way the popular Anthony M. Kennedy can become more "popular" with certain minorities, who don't even know who this long-erring Kennedy actually is.

[prairiebreeze]

gerrymandering ping

[AntiGuv]

Almost every major redistricting decision has in actuality involved just one or two districts of a given state. To reiterate, the big question is what the remedy will be. Even one invalid district must be fixed, and that means new maps. When I looked at this a couple months ago, my sense was the just striking down the TX-24 district that was struck down requires substantially adjusting at least a half dozen other districts.

[HostileTerritory]

My guess is that we lose, at most, 2 seats out of a gain of 6 or 7 from the redistricting.

[Iwo Jima]

From the article: Lawmakers, however, will have to adjust boundary lines to address the court’s concerns.

We'll just draw the lines EVEN BETTER in next year's legislative session and just in time for the 2006 congressional races. Heh, heh, heh.

[Republican Red]

Republicans picked up six Texas congressional seats two years ago, and the court's ruling does not seriously threaten those gains

As I said, a win. Let the AP spin all they want. the six seats are safe.

[Iwo Jima]

We won't lose a thing. We just need to tighten up the lines.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Good thing that you didn't wait another few minutes to actually learn exactly what they ruled and their logic before declaring your interpretation. Shouting "We're all doomed" regardless of the facts is such a Freeper tradition...

[mcvey]

I know this is dangerous, but the red states ought to allow the blue states to pursue the Balkanization strategy that they so love, while the red states go to at large elections. How many 'rats would get elected out of even purple states such as Pennsylvania. (Just think what would happen if the representatives in Philadelphia had to compete across the state.)

McVey

[OldFriend]

Leave it to MSNBC to put up a misleading heading. But then.......foolish me.

[Txsleuth]

I just heard ABC radio news break into a local station, and the way THEY put it...this was basically a WIN for Delay and Texas redistricting...

So..I would guess from that--that not much will be changed by this Supreme Court decision.

But,...I am sure they dems will spin it the other way..

However, I didn't hear any specifics to know for sure what will happen.

[Inwoodian]

This is a near 100% victory for the 'Pubs. They keep the same number of districts in Republican hands. Let's see how quickly the MSM revisits the Dem jackals running away to Oklahoma. Seems to me this ruling highlights these antics as nothing more than sour grapes.

[AntiGuv]

Ordinarily invalid districts have to be fixed before the subsequent general election, which means this November. That was the case in Texas in 1996 when the SCOTUS struck down a couple districts that June. They ended up holding new primaries to coincide with the general election for 13 redrawn districts, followed by a December run off. That's because GWB didn't convene a special session of the legislature to fix it and so the courts imposed a new map.

[goldstategop]

The Legislature can create another Hispanic district but its not a gain for the Democrats. All this fuss over one measly seat? The Democrats are in deep trouble precisely because they can't get a majority of Texans to vote for them.

(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")

[HostileTerritory]

Yes, but won't the change still mean that those districts will still elect 5 Republicans and 1 Democrat (E.B. Johnson)?

Maybe Kenny Marchant ends up in a primary with Pete Sessions...

[Raycpa]

In a 5-3 ruling, the Court decided that prison officials may deny newspapers, magazines and photographs to their most dangerous inmates. The plurality opinion by Justice Stephen G. Breyer upheld such a ban. Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., took no part. He had dissented when the Third Circuit struck down the ban.

This would seem to keep reporters out of Gitmo if the courts rule that Gitmo is the same as the US.

[mystery-ak]

Was Rita reading the SCOTUS ruling?.....lol

[george wythe]

It seems that Republicans won most of the meat of the case:

On a different issue, the court ruled that state legislators may draw new maps as often as they like - not just once a decade as Texas Democrats claimed. That means Democratic and Republican state lawmakers can push through new maps anytime there is a power shift at a state capital.

The Constitution says states must adjust their congressional district lines every 10 years to account for population shifts. In Texas the boundaries were redrawn twice after the 2000 census, first by a court, then by state lawmakers in a second round promoted by DeLay after Republicans took control.

That was acceptable, justices said.

[HostileTerritory]

The revised 24th district is going to be a majority-minority seat in Ft. Worth and Dallas. You can't get that by "tinkering" with the lines or else SCOTUS wouldn't have complained. Martin Frost is going to be returning to Congress. Turner, Bell, Sandlin, Stenholm, and Lampson will not be.