Posted on 06/28/2006 7:14:51 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Letting nine robes run our nation.........
Who voted for them?
Yep, seems like it may take a bit to fully understand the exact ruling and its details.
More from the Scotus blog link in post #9:
"Here is a key paragraph in Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's plurality opinion in the Texas redistricting case: "In sum, we disagree with appellants' view that a legislature's decision to override a valid, court-drawn plan mid-decade is sufficiently suspect to give shape to a reliable standard for identifying unconstiutitonal political gerrymanders. We conclude that appellants have established no legally iimpermissible use of political classifications. For this reason, they state no claim on which relief may be granted for their statewide challenge."
LOL.....I don't watch TV during the day.....I'm 'watching' here on FR. Where I know I'm in good hands....very good hands and hugs.
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
No. Definitely not necessarily. Bonilla will end up in a far more marginal district - something much closer to the one he barely won in 2002, and in the other direction they might also end up with a district very similar in demographics to Lampson's old district in the Houston area.
Dear Mr. Squat:
My remarks had little to do with the present ruling. I teach a course on congressional politics on a regular basis--just finished one section of it this spring--and my remarks hold regardless of the present ruling.
We are Balkanizing in many ways and it would make sense to me to employ tactics to stop it. I just finished reading a post on an academic thread where the editor of the thread was bemoaning not being in DC--said he was far removed from civilization. I thought of posting it on FR, but then thought "who cares?"
I am neither in danger nor in doubt and I am not running in circles nor planning to scream and shout.
McVey
I'd say it's a Republican win, although it will allow the crooked Democrats more opportunity to drag their feet, delay, and obfuscate, instead of having the matter settled.
Frankly, I think the racial balance law was unconstitutional. What the constitution says is that all men are created equal under God. One man, one vote.
There's nothing in the constitution saying that one race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, or degree of polical correctness should be privileged over another. Blacks and Hispanics are not inferior; neither are they superior. We are all Americans together, or should be.
Splitting up districts in order to give some to blacks and some to Hispanics is divisive, plain and simple. It feeds into Democrat practices of splitting and dividing the country and keeping designated minorities on their plantations.
All this happened under Lyndon Johnson, when he made the most regretable decision in modern politics and turned the civil rights movement into a Democrat plantation movement. What the Democrats gained by that cynical move, blacks lost.
Sounds like an affirmative action type decision. Based on race only.
And this is bad why?
Or, more exactly, this is unconstitutional why?
PS. It's also quite likely that Bonilla & Cuellar could end up in the same district again, that being a district similar to the 2002 district, in which case Bonilla will be very hard-pressed to win again IMHO.
You make an excellent connection. I pray that Gitmo is not going to be considered part of the US. Don't want those murderer wannabe's in our Court system.
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
Yippee chi yoh chi yah!!! Goooooo Texas !!
"Republicans picked up six Texas congressional seats two years ago, and the court's ruling does not seriously threaten those gains."
This is good news.
Is there any news that indicates they found problems with Bonilla's district? I understand that his district and Frost's were both contested as VRA-related, but it sounds like the Court only cared about Frost's in the ruling.
Might that possibly solve the GOP's 'Replacing DeLay on the ballot' dilemma?
A part of my job is to do quality control on construction. Whenever I look at a bathroom tile, the tile guy always leaves one tile askew, right at eye level, right next to the door. The idea is that I will walk in, see that tile, and tell him to fix that one, and walk out.
Of course, it does not work with me. I get pissed off about the obvious attempt to manipulate me, and go over the rest of the tile with a fine tooth comb. After a while, you would think the tile guys would catch on that this is not a good idea with me, but they never do.
I would imagine that if you were doing redistricting, the crooked tile theory would hold. Make one district so outrageous, with such an obvious solution, that the courts will tell you to fix that one, and leave the rest alone.
Yes, or more accurately, based on ethnicity only, since the Hispanic minority district was the only one rejected.
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