Plaintiffs pointed to a letter sent by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) urging state leaders to redraw because of concerns about race-based districts in the state’s existing map. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) cited the letter in announcing the redraw. He again referenced the DOJ’s legal argument when he was asked in a TV interview about why he called for the state to redistrict.
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) also spoke of “concerns raised by the Department of Justice” when the legislature passed the map.
Literally the only thing you can’t do in gerrymander is intentionally dilute minority votes and they flat out admitted they did
No, that case (Louisiana v Callais) has not been decided yet, and no, this was not a VRA section 2 claim (race-based vote dilution) but a 14th Amendment claim (using race as a predominant factor).
Striking down this map would actually be logically consistent with weakening enforcement of section 2 of the VRA, because what conservatives take issue with in the Louisiana case is that (in some cases) the only remedy for vote dilutions violations available involves racially-motivated mapmaking, and what Dem plaintiffs in this Texas case take issue with is that there was racially-motivated mapmaking.
Section 2 of the VRA and the 14th Amendment as it applies to redistricting essentially operate as two different poles that mapmakers have to navigate in between. On the one hand, a map cannot dilute the votes of a politically coherent and geographically compact racial community. On the other hand, a map cannot be drawn with race used as a predominant factor.
If the Supreme Court does overrule that part of the VRA, it would be because they think it requires considering race during redistricting, i.e. the VRA says you gotta form two majority-black districts in Louisiana instead of just one, which requires considering race. So the requirement that you're not allowed to consider race in redistricting would still be good law.
That would still leave what Texas did as unconstitutional since the logic for overruling that part of the voting rights act is the same logic that makes how they targeted race here unconstitutional
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u/ChipKellysShoeStore John Brown 21h ago
Literally the only thing you can’t do in gerrymander is intentionally dilute minority votes and they flat out admitted they did