The lawsuit asks the court to find that the new maps were “enacted with an impermissible and controlling discriminatory purpose on the basis of race” and to issue a ruling prohibiting Texas from using the updated boundaries.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has filed a lawsuit against Texas, claiming that the state’s new congressional maps are discriminatory and in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
According to ABC News, the amended lawsuit contends that Texas’s new election maps “dilute the voting strength of voters of color and deny them the opportunity to elect preferred candidates of their choice […] and were drawn by legislators and adopted by the Governor for the express purpose of impermissibly discriminating against voters of color.”
The NAACP and its allies also claim that the Texas legislature failed to solicit public comment and feedback on the maps that were eventually enacted by Congress.
“It’s quite obvious that Texas’s effort to redistrict mid-decade, before next year’s midterm elections, is racially motivated. The state’s intent here is to reduce the members of Congress who represent Black communities, and that, in and of itself, is unconstitutional,” NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson said.
The lawsuit asks the court to find that the new maps were “enacted with an impermissible and controlling discriminatory purpose on the basis of race” and to issue a ruling prohibiting Texas from using the updated boundaries.
The NAACP is one of several non-governmental organizations currently suing Texas over its congressional maps. Aside from initiating legal action, the NAACP said that it also supports blue states, like California, gerrymandering their own maps in retaliation against Texas.
A related lawsuit, filed earlier this month, argues that the maps violate the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.
“Even if racial and partisan considerations are an unavoidable part of redistricting, there is no need for legislatures to take those considerations into account a second time in a single decade,” the lawsuit claims.
The National Redistricting Foundation, which filed the earlier lawsuit, also speculated that Texas’s new maps were drawn, at least in part, to dilute minority votes.
“Texas’s existing map already dilutes the voting power of communities of color,” Foundation executor director Marina Jenkins said.
“In spite of that, the state has doubled down with an even more extreme racial gerrymander that goes even further to pack and crack communities of color and minimize the number of congressional districts where minority voters have the ability to elect candidates of their choice,” Jenkins said. “The court has already agreed to consider expediting this case, and we are confident that justice will be delivered for Texans.”
Sources
Fresh off Texas Senate’s approval, new congressional map is target of lawsuits
Join the conversation!