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 ...
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
Following up with an AP quote...
"At issue was the shifting of 100,000 Hispanics out of a district represented by a Republican incumbent and into a new, oddly shaped district. Justices had been told that was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voting rights."
This definitely points to Bonnilla, not Frost. But the other reports said TX-24. I guess we have to wait until someone who knows what they're talking about reports!
frankly, all of it should be struckd down on the grounds gerrymandering aims to disenfranchise voters.
but strike this down only if you strike down all gerrymandering which would lead to a lot of competitive disctricts not only in TX, but also CA and NY.
It doesn't. But the VRA says they must be represented by "the candidate of their choice", whether he is Hispanic or not. Whether they can elect the candidate of their choice depends on their share of the electorate.
Note that an Anglo represents a Latino district in Houston and is considered to be the "candidate of their choice" while a Latino representing a half-Latino district in San Antonio and West Texas apparently doesn't qualify because only Anglos vote for him.
Hopefully they were very careful to preserve the voting rights of illegals.
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
Oh wait, you're right! The TX-23 is Bonilla. The old TX-24 was Frost (the new is Marchant). Hmm.. A redraw of the Dallas-Fort Worth area seats would mainly just send Frost back to Congress. I don't think it would have much impact beyond that. Scratch what I said earlier, although I'm really surprised if the Frost district is the one that was struck down and not the Bonilla/Cuellar lines!
LOLOL.....I rarely visit Drudge but I think I'll check him out just to see this new headline!!!!!
Delay was just trying fix all the gerrymandering put in place during the Ma Richards era. That's why the bulk of Delays fixing will remain intact.
SCOTUSblog has corrected itself to say that it was Bonilla's TX-23 that was struck down and that Frost's redrawn TX-24 was upheld. That's more like what I expected!
The whole darned country would be in an uproar if the supremes struck down the entire idea of gerrymandering.
I hope for their sakes that both Frost and Marchant were at the gym or sleeping when this news broke. I don't think their hearts could have taken it.
SCOTUS blog is saying Dist. 23, not 24. 23 is in the upper Rio Grande valley, a huge area, largely Hispanic. 24 cuts through the middle of DFW.
Am glad to hear that there are no plans to scream for ice cream.
Actually as I go back and restudy history, I am reminded at how amazingly stable US politics and governments are compared to those of others from the past. Balkanized perhaps in a relative sense, but nothing like it could be.
My favorite part:
New maps, anytime:
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.
Rita.......I was thinking of her too......LOL
I like the headline. It's like a headline saying, "Red Sox Outscore Yankees in Ninth Inning," when the final score is 5-1 Yankees, with the Sox getting their one run in the ninth.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.