Federal Judges Dismiss ALL Claims of Democratic Senators (Texas Redistricting)

Quorum Report ^ | 09.12.2003

[SolidSupplySide]

THREE JUDGE PANEL POURS OUT TEXAS DEMOCRATIC SENATORS

Laredo court dismisses all of their claims

[GatekeeperBookman]

Missing from the photo-Martin Frost.

[GatekeeperBookman]

anbody post the donor list for Frost? Foriegn names abound. They must make wire transfers from the ME & the Pacific Rim & China.

[deport]

Missing from the photo-Martin Frost.

---

Why would Frost be in it?...... I suspect he was in D.C. where the Congress is in session. The photo is of the State Senators that ran to NM, not Congressional Representatives.

[GatekeeperBookman]

My rhetorical observation was meant to make folks consider that these very small minds did not conceive or execute the plan.

I also recall how Martin appeared on the White House lawn the day of ( or after ) impeachment, when The Stump pronounced Clintoon one of the greatest Presidents...

Martin is a very big wheel on the Demoncat machine.

[Theodore R.]

Southwest TX is a distinct unit and is usually defined as the territory from the Pecos River to El Paso. That includes Del Rio, Alpine, and the Big Bend country. It think it is the areas from south of Midland-Odessa to El Paso. It would include such towns as Monahans, which has sand dunes.

[B.O. Plenty]

We can always hope that the R's will grow some balls and get tough with the dems.....but sometimes I wonder. Bill Frist "hopes" that the dems in the Senate will somehow see the errors of their ways and do the right thing concerning presidential appointments. I am not holding my breath...and nothing will suprise me as far as the R's are concerned.

I would love to see the killer D's refuse to pay their fines resulting in liens being filed on their property. Wouldn't that be fun to watch?

[Theodore R.]

Kazen is a nephew of the late Rep. Abraham Kazen, D-TX. The name "Kazen" is Lebanese. Kazen was appointed to the bench in 1979 by Jimmy Carter. Sen. John G. Tower, R-TX, could have blocked the nomination under "senatorial courtesy" but did not do so.

[Theodore R.]

I suspect that the GOP will "let up" on the fines to be "nice" but such a kind gesture will still not make the Democrats hate the GOP any the less.

[RobbyS]

I knew the Kazens through the Knights of Columbus.

[Theodore R.]

Your geographic analysis of West TX is correct. But most include Abilene and Wichita Falls as the two easternmost terminals of West TX. Some put the Panhandle, which is the area north of Plainview in a separate geographic category. By that definition the Panhandle would be the least populous part of the state.

[Theodore R.]

Craddick may be unrealistic in expecting a district centered on Midland-Odessa. The West TX population is too small to have districts based in each of the larger population centers there. There can't be separate districts for Amarillo-Wichita Falls, Lubbock, Abilene, and Midland-Odessa. Not enough population to justify such districts

[Theodore R.]

Tony Sanchez was too scared to show up in during the election.

I seem to recall that about a year ago Mr. Sanchez said that people in "West Texas" would not vote for candidates who did not "look like them." He spent little time in West Texas, but his ticket-mate Ron Kirk campaigned all across the region, only to lose it to John Cornyn.

[Congressman Billybob]

You miss the point of the freedoms in the First Amendment. If they only apply to some people, and not others, they are fatally defective. If judges were prejudiced by their own political backgrounds (which are always either Republican or Democrat) they would tend to protect the freedoms of candidates and voters associated with the current two "major parties" and give short shrift to other political actors.

The fact that, in my long experience, very few federal judges have shown such a prejudice, supports my point that most federal judges are able and willing to follow the law where it leads, on behalf of any person who claims the protection of his/her rights under the First Amendment.

Got it?

John / Billybob

[Dog Gone]

A district needs to have about 650,000 residents. Midland-Odessa has a little over 200,000, unless it's grown a lot since I last visited.

In the past, it's been paired with suburban San Antonio in order to get enough residents to form a district.

Your analysis is absolutely correct. While I understand the "Petroplex" has different concerns than Lubbock, it's impossible to make everyone happy.

[SolidSupplySide]

I'm not sure why you're celebrating. If Tony Sanchez, whom you supported, had been elected, there wouldn't have been any redistricting.

I don't care about redistricting. I care about the law. The law has been upheld . . . that is worth rejoicing. When have I *ever* stated that I support redistricting????

I don't have an opinion on redistricting, but that battle should be held at the statehouse. Given that I have strong guiding values, I guarantee that my position would be the same if Sanchez had won. My positions are based on principle, not politics. That annoys many of the political types on FR. But at least I will never be intellectually dishonest.

[RobbyS]

Kirk would have gotten more votes if the DNC had not come in and demanded he sound more like Sharpton. He is not afraid of white voters and knows how to talk to them.

[txradioguy]

Sanchez TRIED to play the race card and it blew up in his face. There are more people who "look" like Sanchez i.e. Hispanic, holding office in W. Texas than he can shake a stick at. And that includes the City COuncil and Couty Comissioners Court in Dubya's home town! There are so many hispanics (legal and illegal) in W. Texas that Mexico has a consolate office in Midland! So it wasnn't that W. Texans wouldn't vote for a Hispanic, it's jsut that we didn't buy Tony Sanchez's liberal BS. Same for Ron Kirk. His problem was that too may people in W. Texas read the Dallas Morning News. They knew what he was like from his turn as Mayor of Dallas.

[NRA2BFree]

Think they'll try another Chicken Run, again...? :)

They better not head back to NM if they do. It's hunting season. lol

[txradioguy]

Actually, if you throw Big Spring, Monahans, Stanton, Lamesa, and a couple other smaller town in there, you'd get the numbers you need. And the 200,000 figure is just for the CITIES of Midland and Odessa alone. That doesn't take intro consideration the population in Ector and Midland counties. The Midland/Odessa "area" could certainly support it's own congressional district.

[capocchio]

freedoms in the First Amendment

Thank you for your reply. My misunderstanding wasn't about what the first amendment meant, it was about how third party candidates fir into the Texas case.

I thought that case had to do with minority representation, with the Democrats arguing that minorities would be under-represented. With their unstated concern indeed being to continue to maximize the effectiveness and trends of minority support of Democrats, with no third party issues on the table.

The way I understand your point, it was not that the case involved third party issues, but rather your experience with third party cases indicated that courts generally tend to follow the law. Thus based on your experience one would expect the court to refuse the Dem's points, which they did.

I guess my further question would be that don't the Florida Supremes actions in the 2000 election violate that rule? Further, I see activist judges doing what the guy did in Pasadena, CA in ~1972 ruling that the Pasadena schools could not have a "majority of any minority", and thus he ordered busing. Or the NJ Supremes ruling changing election law at the last minute in 2002.

In other words, it seems to me, at least in many of the high visibility cases that matter, liberal judges are as likely to change laws as not. How otherwise would you explain these examples then?