Federal Panel Hears Texas Redistricting Concerns
- RGRatcliffe - HouChron
Federal panel hears redistricting concerns
Some charge the population change is not reflected in gerrymandering
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Houston Chronicle
DALLAS - The legal battle over congressional redistricting focused in federal court Friday on whether one-man, one-vote constitutional protections were violated in 2003 when the Legislature used 3-year-old census data to redraw district boundaries. Lawyers for Democrats and minority groups told a three-judge panel that major shifts in the state's population had occurred by the time the map was drawn, making it illegal.But State Solicitor General Ted Cruz argued that the U.S. Census is the only legal population count that can be used for redistricting.Cruz said because of births, deaths and people moving, the census is inaccurate the day it is completed.The federal panel heard arguments Friday on whether courts should consider claims that the Texas redistricting plan was an excessive Republican gerrymander.The panel is made up of two Republican appointees, U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Patrick Higginbotham and District Judge Lee Rosenthal of Houston, and a Democratic appointee, District Judge John Ward of Marshall. The panel did not immediately rule after Friday's hearing.The Republican-dominated Legislature in 2003 redrew the state's districts to eliminate the 17-15 majority Democrats held in the congressional delegation. Republicans now hold a 21-11 majority under the new plan.While the hearing was supposed to mostly be about partisan gerrymandering, the focus was on the one-man, one-vote rule. That U.S. Supreme Court doctrine says districts must have equal populations so that no one's vote carries more weight than another person's.Jose Garza with the League of United Latin American Citizens told the court that the current districts already violate that doctrine because of shifting populations.Garza said revised population estimates from the state demographer show congressional districts 15 and 19, both Republican, have too little population and districts 15 and 28, both Hispanic and Democratic, have too much population.Cruz said the redistricting plan was a partisan gerrymander, but it was one produced to replace a Democratic gerrymander drawn in 1991. He said there is no legal standard for declaring a partisan gerrymander unconstitutional.
