The Supreme Court and Texas Redistricting

At lest according to the mainstream media, the Supreme Court was not very sympathetic to arguments against Tom DeLay’s Republican take over of Texas districts.

Below are some excerpts from an article on Truthout.com about the issue.

DeLay's Texas Voting Map Raises Partisanship Issue Bloomberg
Wednesday 01 March 2006

...the court will decide "whether there's a constitutionally enforceable limit on partisan greed in the redistricting process," said Nathaniel Persily, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Voters who challenged the new districts are asking the Supreme Court to rule that the Constitution's equal-protection guarantee bars states from redrawing the map in mid-decade when the only purpose is partisan gain.

The high court has never ruled a voting map unconstitutional on grounds of excessive partisanship.

Those challenging the new map also say it diluted minority voting strength in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act, which protects black and Hispanic voters.

Attorneys at the Justice Department agreed with that assessment in a memo but were overruled by their superiors, the Washington Post reported in December. The Justice Department said its approval of the plan was vindicated when a federal court rejected a Democratic challenge to the redistricting.