Louisiana redistricting case seen as crucial test of Voting Rights Act

WaPo ^ | 06/04/2011 | Sandhya Somashekhar

[BuckeyeTexan]

In a racially mixed corner of Shreveport, La., a small group of white voters protested loudly this year that they did not want to be part of a majority black district when the legislature redrew the state’s political boundaries. The Republican-led statehouse complied, drawing a line around the community to accommodate them.

That line is at the heart of a case before the Justice Department that is seen as a critical test of how the Obama administration will interpret the controversial Voting Rights Act as it rules on a new wave of redistricting plans.

The law, passed in 1965, was designed in part to prevent white lawmakers from weakening the voting strength of minorities with the deft drawing of district lines. More than a dozen states, including Louisiana, are required because of their history of discrimination to clear their redistricting plans with Justice.

But some lawmakers in those states, many of which have Republican majorities, say they do not trust the Obama administration to fairly assess their maps. This is the first time since the passage of the Voting Rights Act that a Democratic administration has been in the White House following a decennial census, when state lawmakers redraw local, state and congressional boundaries.

[MovementConservative]

I’m all for more districts like that. Make them 95%-100%black I say. They deserve the representation they get.

[af_vet_rr]

There. That do anything for clarity and comprehension?

Don't forget birthrates among different groups and the New Englanders and Californians moving into Texas. I probably won't be alive in 20 years, and I can't even imagine what Texas will be like then. I would make a joke that Texas is going to look like it did prior to the 1830s, but that's probably racist ;-)