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.

[goldstategop]

This where I dissent. Since where it is written in the Constitution Hispanics MUST be represented ONLY by Hispanics? Its a racist notion. But then again Justice Anthony Kennedy is a liberal racist who believes in political apartheid - for minorities, who can only be represented by liberals.

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

[HostileTerritory]

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!

[staytrue]

but I don't like any of it struck down!

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.

[HostileTerritory]

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.

[msnimje]

WOW, talk about BIAS reporting!!!

This is a win for the Republicans and Delay with a very small adjustment by the SCOTUS.

[pax_et_bonum]

Hopefully they were very careful to preserve the voting rights of illegals.

[goldstategop]

Exactly. The SCOTUS had endorsed an affirmative action rule for gerrymandering. Its not exactly a gift horse for the Left; quite the contrary - it locks them into representing fewer voters than they otherwise could win in a district that was NOT racially gerrymandered. The SCOTUS put the Democrats in a political ghetto in Texas with today's decision.

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

[AntiGuv]

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!

[OldFriend]

LOLOL.....I rarely visit Drudge but I think I'll check him out just to see this new headline!!!!!

[Raycpa]

Will the MSM apologize to Tom Delay now ?

[Ron in Acreage]

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.

[Protagoras]

Gerrymandering is antithetical to freedom and representative government. It should be outlawed permanently.

[AntiGuv]

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!

[OldFriend]

The whole darned country would be in an uproar if the supremes struck down the entire idea of gerrymandering.

[HostileTerritory]

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.

[Jedidah]

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.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I am neither in danger nor in doubt and I am not running in circles nor planning to scream and shout.

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.

[showme_the_Glory]

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.

[tioga]

Rita.......I was thinking of her too......LOL

[djpg]

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.