Texas Still Doesn't Know Its Congressional Districts

Texas Rep. Burt Solomons and Sen. Kel Seliger
Dino Grandoni 2,541 Views Jan 20, 2012

A Supreme Court decision today means that Texas still doesn't know the boundaries of its 36 congressional district, which is a bit of a problem since primaries for those congressional seats are only three months away. The case involved two sets of congressional maps: one drawn by the GOP-controlled Texas legislature (above), which favored Republicans, and the other later drawn by a court in San Antonio, which favored Democrats, according to The New York Times. Normally it's legislatures that redraw congressional districts after every Census, but the lower court in San Antonio decided to make its own interim map when another a special court in Washington "indicated that it is unlikely to approve at least some of the Legislature’s map," as it's required to do. "Texas Republican officials appealed to the Supreme Court, said the lower-court overstepped its authority and argued the judges should have deferred to the maps drawn by the elected lawmakers," reports Reuters.

But now, according to the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling, "the lower court had not paid enough deference to the Legislature’s choices and had improperly substituted its own values for those of elected officials," says The Times, and will have to redraw theirs based more off of the legislature's. Hanging in the balance nationally: which party will get Texas's four new congressional seats, due mostly to the state's growing Hispanic population, according to Reuters. Proving like textbooks did a year ago that what happens in Texas doesn't just stay in Texas.

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