Court throws out judge-drawn Texas electoral maps

Associated Press ^ | 1/20/12 | Greg Stohr

[Happy Valley Dude]

WASHINGTON (AP)

[fwdude]

Looks like this ruling will throw a wrench in the planned Apr primary. I doubt they’ll have approved district lines drawn in time for approval in order to proceed with the Apr primary.

Then, in the absence of any proof of "disenfranchising" minorities, the constitutionally-draw state legislature maps should be used.

This is getting maddening.

[OrangeHoof]

There is a mountain of voter registration cards (including mine since I recently moved) which can’t proceed because the county clerk’s office doesn’t know what U.S. representative district I will be in. That’s the practical problem here is that any solution is going to require some lag time for the voter ID cards to go out.

[OrangeHoof]

The high court said the judges appeared in some instances not to pay enough attention to the state's choices. The judges made mistakes in their plans, particularly in altering district lines for state legislative and congressional seats in parts of the state where there is no allegation of discrimination on the part of the Legislature, the high court said.

"In the absence of any legal flaw in this respect in the state's plan, the district court had no basis to modify that plan," the justices said, talking about state House districts in north and east Texas.

(bold mine for emphasis)

[mrreaganaut]

Too bad the Census counts the illegal aliens living in our Country.

I believe that Constitutionally, they should only count as 3/5 of a person.

[zeugma]

You'll find the text of the opinion here(PDF).

Justice Thomas had a concurring opinion. Here's the opening paragraph of that...

The Court proceeds from the premise that court-drawn interim plans are necessary in part because Texas’ newly enacted redistricting plans are unenforceable for lack of preclearance under §5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Ante, at 1–3. In my view, Texas’ failure to timely obtain §5 preclearance of its new plans is no obstacle to their implementation, because, as I have previously explained, §5 is unconstitutional. See Northwest Austin Municipal Util. Dist. No. One v. Holder, 557 U. S. 193, 212 (2009) (THOMAS, J., concurring in judgment in part and dissent- ing in part). ...

[Jedidah]

Didn’t think about the voter registration problem.

[Road Glide]

“Are laws different for minorities than they are for whites? Is the Constitution worded differently for minorities than for whites?”

You are bold and brave to ask such questions, even in this forum.

But they are questions that _must_ be asked — and then _answered_ — if our nation is to go forward as The Founders intended, or to sink into a sea of “diversity”...

[deport]

Then, in the absence of any proof of “disenfranchising” minorities, the constitutionally-draw state legislature maps should be used.

---

To a degree that is what this court ruling alluded to. Not that they should use the state legislature drawn maps exclusive, but that the court ignored them in total.

[wardaddy]

lol...that makes about 3 of us here

most freepers ape the Beck-Rush-Hannity line of praise for the first 1960s race initiatives like they are the Torah of modern politics

sad

[sportutegrl]

Too bad the Census counts the illegal aliens living in our Country.

I believe that Louisiana has filed a lawsuit saying that Texas has too many districts because of the illegal count. They believe that Texas took one of theirs.

I think that if you take in the Katrina people, then you get their congressional district.

[TheOldLady]

I can’t believe that they’re targeting Texas to run this jive-[unladylike words] past the people. Keep fighting their rampant lawlessness, Texans!

[MHGinTN]

The SCOTUS publicly spanked the leftist judges who re-wrote the Texas legislature’s district alignments.

[Lurking Libertarian]

The SCOTUS publicly spanked the leftist judges who re-wrote the Texas legislature’s district alignments.

And the decision was 9-0 (techniclly, 8-1, but Thomas went farther than the majority in slapping down the lower court).

[Liberty Valance]

bttt

[crosshairs]

You know nobody will be able to control Obama’s mouth when he is removed from office.

Which is why I hope he's put into solitary confinement rather than the general penitentiary prison population.

[buffyt]

Excellent book!

[ngat]

“Assuming it’s not settled by April, I want Texas to have a say in the nomination.”

The way this primary is shaping up, by rights,now (because of getting our primary dates moved to later date) Texas should be able to have a winner-take-all instead of proportional representation, in which case, think of the ramifications of having 155 delegates up for grabs if this becomes a competitive raceall the way through to the national convention!

[Arrowhead1952]

Just in case you missed this ping.

[Pelham]

“lol...that makes about 3 of us here”

Make that 4...

[sand88]

For goodness sakes, he's the former President. He has an obligation to speak out against the devastation Democrats have been wreaking and defending his administration's actions. This is the same vanity we are seeing now that we saw during his administration where he refused to defend himself against the Democrats' attacks.

Rush made a good point. The elites of D.C. do not see "much" wrong with our Country. They truly don't think things are that bad.

Bush will never be affected by the evils of Obama. It speaks volumes that he doesn't speak out.

Bush either is being threatened if he does speak out; doesn't really care enough to speak out, or he doesn't think Obama's policies are are as destructive as we believe.

Remember, both Bushes pursued policies that greatly increased the power of the State over the individual. They are Statists at heart. Statist view the State as an inherent instrument of good.

Our Founders rightfully had real hostility towards a powerful central government. Our Founders cherished Liberty. Our Founders knew that government would attract men of evil ambitions and lustful of power.

Paramount in their implementation of our Constitution was the belief that government must severely limited in power. They put in numerous firewalls that held the Statists at bay for well over a hundred years.

Our Founders would be amazed our Republic as lasted this long without needing the "reset" of a revolution.

It can be surmised from various writings that many of our Founders expected ever so often that the people would rise up and put the "fear of the people" in those politicians of mischievous ends. It would have been good if every decade of so, most of Washington was tarred, feathered, and run out of town.