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Judge declines to rule on Democrats' redistricting lawsuit
The Dallas Morning News ^ | August 27, 2003 | Associated Press

Posted on 08/27/2003 10:26:44 AM PDT by hoaxbuster1

LAREDO, Texas - A federal judge in Laredo on Wednesday declined to rule on the Democratic lawsuit claiming Republicans violated the Voting Rights Act and Democrats' constitutional rights with their redistricting efforts, saying the matter would best be decided by a three-judge federal panel.

U.S. District Judge George Kazen said he doesn't think the Voting Rights Act applies in the case, but the issues raised by the 11 senators have enough merit to refer the case to the larger group of judges.

The quorum-busting senators -- who left the state for Albuquerque, N.M., a month ago to block a vote on a GOP-backed remapping of congressional districts -- had wanted to be present when a judge considered their lawsuit.

Had the case been clearly without merit, Kazen said, he would have felt comfortable making the ruling by himself. He said he would write a letter to the chief judge of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to ask that two other judges be appointed.

Kazen told Max Renea Hicks, attorney for the Democrats, that he would not grant a temporary restraining order that would permit the Democrats to return to Texas. But the judge liked Hicks' counter proposal that the Democrats be given 72 hours notice before Republican Gov. Rick Perry calls for a third special session on redistricting.

"Let's all chill out for a while and stop, stop spending taxpayers money for a while and get this ruled on," Kazen said.

R. Ted Cruz, the state's solicitor general, said that he didn't have the power to agree to a 72-hour advance notice but that he would take the idea to Perry and Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

Several of the Democrats had planned to travel from Albuquerque to the courtroom but changed their minds about midnight because they feared arrest in Texas, said Harold Cook, a consultant for the Democrats. Senate rules allow for the arrest of members who intentionally thwart a quorum.

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-Laredo, said sources in Austin told the Democrats that the Senate sergeant-at-arms was in position in Laredo to arrest them and because they had heard that several senators had been called back to the Capitol after the Legislature adjourned Tuesday to convene another session.

"There was very clearly a plan to arrest us in Laredo. Now whether that's done by saying senators, come over here, we've got to go to Austin or get in the back of that car, whatever the mechanism was, there was a plan to get us detained," Shapleigh said.

Republicans were considering arresting the Democrats but the Senate sergeant-at-arms was never in Laredo, said Dave Beckwith, a spokesman for Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

"In a game of cat and mouse, the cat only has to win once," Beckwith said.

Cook said members of the Texas 11 regretted not being able to attend their own hearing. But Democrats had cautioned all along that they wouldn't make the trip if they got indications that a special session might be called.

"We're not going to put the senators at risk," Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio said from a hotel room where senators were gathered Tuesday night.

In a news conference Tuesday, Perry didn't discount Democrats' concerns about being arrested in Texas.

"I guess that is a legitimate concern, I suppose. If they don't want to be here working then I don't think the lieutenant governor has any other options."

Earlier in the day, Van de Putte had shrugged off questions about whether Perry would try to trap the Democrats.

"Surely, he wouldn't be that stupid," Van de Putte said. "That would exactly prove our point (which) is they will trap us, they will do anything whether it's unethical or immoral to try and please partisan Republicans."

Five senators -- Shapleigh, Zaffirini, John Whitmire of Houston, Royce West of Dallas and Juan Hinojosa of McAllen -- had planned on attending the hearing. Van de Putte of San Antonio and Rodney Ellis of Houston were considering it.

Republicans, who control the Texas House and Senate, have been trying to redraw the state's political lines to increase the number of Republicans in Congress. Democrats and one Republican thwarted the plan in the first special session, but tried to push it through in the second session by dropping a rule that requires two-thirds of senators to agree to consider a bill.

With no blocking power, Democrats fled the state to avoid a vote and later sued, claiming Republicans violated their rights by dropping the rule. The 11 Democratic senators, all but two of whom are black or Hispanic, said the two-thirds rule is vital in ensuring racial, ethnic or political minorities bargaining power in a chamber where they're out numbered.

Democrats hoped the judge would order a three-judge panel to consider claims in the lawsuit, while Republicans hoped the judge would grant their motion to dismiss the case. There will likely be appeals regardless of the decision.

The second special session on redistricting ended Tuesday, but Democrats remain holed up at a New Mexico hotel because of the threat of another special session.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Politics/Elections; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: democrats; redistricting; texas
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Yeh---like Perry and Dewhurst are going to give the RATS 72 hour notice...
1 posted on 08/27/2003 10:26:45 AM PDT by hoaxbuster1
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To: hoaxbuster1
Kazen is a rare federal judge, it seems, for he was willing to forego a decision by himself and pass the issue to a higher court. Most federal judges, such as Myron Thompson in AL, can't wait to issue rulings that thwart the freedom of the people.

Yet, Kazen said Perry and Dewhurst should give the Democrats 72 hours notice before calling a third special session.

Clearly this suit seems outside the realm of a federal court.
2 posted on 08/27/2003 10:30:54 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: hoaxbuster1
The judge knows that the Dems have zero case, but he pulls a delaying tactic by trying to pass it on to the 3-judge panel.

Remember, the Dems think that if they can run out the clock a few more weeks, any redistricting plan won't be able to get Justice Dept approval in time to be used in '04.
3 posted on 08/27/2003 10:31:08 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Theodore R.
Naw, Hazen is just another complicit Dem hack. Delaying tactic.
4 posted on 08/27/2003 10:32:06 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: hoaxbuster1
And the judge has no authority to order it, or he obviously would have. So the Dems got what they said they wanted (a three-judge panel), but not what they really wanted, which was an order that would allow them to come back to Texas without getting arrested. And remember that the 5th Circuit is pretty conservative, so they will probably wind up with 2 Republican appointed judges in addition to the Dem judge already assigned to the case.
5 posted on 08/27/2003 10:32:13 AM PDT by CA Conservative
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Well, wouldn't a Democrat hack just rule entirely as the Democrat attorneys suggested, regardles of the likelihood of being overturned by the circuit court? Surely, he is Democrat. Like Myron Thompson, he was appointed to the bench by Jimmy Carter, one year before Thompson.
6 posted on 08/27/2003 10:33:41 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Remember, the Dems think that if they can run out the clock a few more weeks, any redistricting plan won't be able to get Justice Dept approval in time to be used in '04.

Ahh, but if and when the Dems return, the Republicans can vote to move the date for the congressional primaries back as far as they want, even until September 2004 if necessary. Without the 2/3 rule in effect, the Dems will be unable to stop it. So they would have to stay out until about May of 2004 for that to work.

7 posted on 08/27/2003 10:35:11 AM PDT by CA Conservative
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To: hoaxbuster1
I say they slap them with ankle bracelets the moment the DIMS come back in the state.
8 posted on 08/27/2003 10:36:07 AM PDT by hillaryisalesbo
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To: hoaxbuster1
Somebody correct me if i'm wrong, but wasn't the current proposed Texas redistricting map done by another court?
9 posted on 08/27/2003 10:37:51 AM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult ("Read Hillary's hips. I never had sex with that woman.")
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To: hoaxbuster1
Thanks for posting this. I have been wondering what the RATS were doing. Of course, there is total silence from the national RAT/media about this attempt to thwart democracy.
10 posted on 08/27/2003 10:38:11 AM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (America's Enemies foreign and domestic agree. Bush must be destroyed.)
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To: Dog Gone; MeeknMing
Judge shopping only bought the suggestion of a '72 hour notice'....... lol
11 posted on 08/27/2003 10:40:03 AM PDT by deport
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To: hoaxbuster1
Several of the Democrats had planned to travel from Albuquerque to the courtroom but changed their minds about midnight because they feared arrest in Texas....

....sources in Austin told the Democrats that the Senate sergeant-at-arms was in position in Laredo to arrest them and because they had heard that several senators had been called back to the Capitol after the Legislature adjourned Tuesday to convene another session.

"There was very clearly a plan to arrest us in Laredo. Now whether that's done by saying senators, come over here, we've got to go to Austin or get in the back of that car, whatever the mechanism was, there was a plan to get us detained," Shapleigh said.

Wow, they seem awfully adept at surviving on the lam....experienced, even.

12 posted on 08/27/2003 10:44:37 AM PDT by Petronski (I'm not always cranky.)
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult
but wasn't the current proposed Texas redistricting map done by another court?


The current districts that are in place now were drawn by a three judge panel in 2001 after the legislature failed to accomplish redistricting in their 2001 session. Gov. Perry stated he wouldn't call special sessions at that time so the only option left was the courts....
13 posted on 08/27/2003 10:46:11 AM PDT by deport
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To: Theodore R.

Sounds like the judge is playing the fiddle as the democrats want it played.... delay.... delay..... delay.... hoping to get to the time frame beyond which filing dates are in play thus districts can't be redrawn for the next election..... He thinks VRA doesn't apply but just in case lets send it over for a panel to review.... that should take up a good month or two.....


14 posted on 08/27/2003 10:57:07 AM PDT by deport
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To: deport
But this lawsuit has little bearing on the dilemma of Perry and Dewhurst, who are being outsmarted by the eleven Albuquerque Democrats. They need what the liberals call "an exit strategy." I would imagine that they would be afraid politically to seize Zaffirini and Van de Putte and bring them back in chains to the Senate floor. It would make the day of both of those ladies were such done! They would become national martyrs for the party.
15 posted on 08/27/2003 11:00:06 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: hoaxbuster1
"Surely, he wouldn't be that stupid," Van de Putte said. "That would exactly prove our point (which) is they will trap us, they will do anything whether it's unethical or immoral to try and please partisan Republicans."

What is unethical or immoral about enforcing rules that have been in place for years? These same rules were in place when the Dems were the majority and it didn't seem to bother them then.

Senate rules allow for the arrest of members who intentionally thwart a quorum.

16 posted on 08/27/2003 11:00:08 AM PDT by Between the Lines ("What Goes Into the Mind Comes Out in a Life")
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To: Theodore R.
Then how come they haven't come back?
17 posted on 08/27/2003 11:01:10 AM PDT by freedomcrusader
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To: Theodore R.
But this lawsuit has little bearing on the dilemma of Perry and Dewhurst, who are being outsmarted by the eleven Albuquerque Democrats.


Some smarts........ being exiled from their home state and afraid to come back..... lol
18 posted on 08/27/2003 11:02:08 AM PDT by deport
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To: deport
But the Albuquerque Eleven will hold out as long as needed before Perry and Dewhurst have no recourse other than to drop redistricting. I suspect that they will be honored at the 2004 Democrat National Convention with a special salute for perseverance.

Staying away from TX is not a real sacrifice for them, for their party is their god. Well, that is overstating the case. But these Democrats believe that they are pleasing God by pleasing their party.
19 posted on 08/27/2003 11:05:05 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: freedomcrusader
They haven't come back, as I see it, because they are determined to win -- they will wait out Perry and Dewhurst. They will be like the Viet Cong, slow, patient, persistent, a winner even if they lose a few battles along the way. To a Democrat, victory means everything. To a Republican, victory is "nice" but not usually expected.
20 posted on 08/27/2003 11:06:42 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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