Justice Department sues Texas, claiming redistricting maps are discriminatory

President Biden’s Justice Department is suing Texas over its redistricting plans, arguing the GOP-controlled state legislature approved maps that discriminate against people of color by making it harder for them to vote.

In announcing the lawsuit Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the state’s new redistricting plans violate the Voting Rights Act because they were drawn with discriminatory intent and will make it harder for Black and Hispanic people to vote.

“Texas has violated Section 2 by creating redistricting plans that deny or abridge the rights of Latino and Black voters to vote on account of their race, color or membership in a language minority group,” he said during a news conference.

It is the department’s second voting rights case filed against Texas in the past month. The other case claims new laws under Senate Bill 1 illegally restrict voting assistance to voters who are disabled or need help.

“This is not the first time Texas has acted to minimize the voting rights of its minority citizens. Decade after decade, Texas has enacted redistricting plans that violate the Voting Rights Act,” the department said in the lawsuit filed Monday. “In enacting its 2021 Congressional and House plans, the state has again diluted the voting strength of minority Texans.”

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said during the press conference that Texas’ population increased by 4 million between 2010 and 2020 and that people of color made up 95% of the increase. U.S. Census Bureau statistics show Texas had a population of about 25 million in 2010 and more than 29 million in 2020.

“Despite this significant increase in the number and proportion of eligible Latino and Black voters in Texas … our investigation determined that Texas’s redistricting plans will dilute the increased minority voting strength that should have developed from these significant demographic shifts,” Ms. Gupta said.

She said Texas will gain two seats in the U.S. House due to the population growth, but state lawmakers intentionally designed the seats to have White voting majorities.

The redistricting plans were approved in “a rushed process, with minimal opportunity for public comment without any expert testimony, and with an overall disregard for the massive minority population growth in Texas over the last decade,” she said.

The department wants a judge to bar Texas from conducting elections with the challenged maps while the lawsuit plays out and to order the state to create new, nondiscriminatory plans.

The office of Texas Secretary of State John Scott, a Republican, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Times.