Court-Drawn Congressional Maps Released

[sonias]

Burnt Orange Report 11/23/11
Breaking: Court-Drawn Congressional Maps Released

Something staffers, journalists and politicos can truly be thankful for -- court-drawn Congressional redistricting maps were just released today. Filing begins Monday, so no rush, right?

View the maps here. You want to select map C220, Federal Court Proposed Congressional Plan.

We'll update this post with early comments as analysis comes out. Your thoughts, as always, welcome in the comments.

Observations, Tweets, and Analysis:

1. The first big news is that the plan separates Lloyd Doggett and Joaquin Castro, by drawing Travis into only 3 districts (10, 21, 25, as it is now) and making the 25th a natural home for Doggett, encompassing south/eastern Travis County and most of Hays county west of IH-35. District 35, on the other hand, the newly created district where Doggett and Castro were battling it out, encompasses the rest of Hays, plus all of Caldwell and Atascosa, and a wide swath of Bexar.

2. On Twitter, Anthony Gutierrez of the TDP notes that CD-23 no longer includes the South Side of San Antonio, but extends into El Paso. This seat is currently held by Quico Canseco, who defeated Ciro Rodriguez in 2010. Both Ciro and State Rep. Pete Gallego had announced plans to run for the seat in 2012.

Cheers to Lloyd Doggett who looks like he should win his seat. :toast:

[sonias]

1. Court ends Doggett-Castro fight

Postcards from the Lege 11/23/11

Court ends Doggett-Castro fight

When a panel of three federal judges in San Antonio released its redrawn congressional map today, it put an end to the anticipated race between U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and state Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, who have been battling each other in an acrimonious fight for a proposed congressional district that would have extended from Austin to San Antonio.

Doggett and Castro had been campaigning under the assumption that they would run against each other in a newly created Congressional District 35 that extends along the Interstate 35 corridor from Austin to San Antonio.

Now, Castro can run in District 35, and Doggett can run in District 25, his current district, which has been re-drawn and will include a large chunk of East Austin, the university area and much of South Austin.

Michael Li, a lawyer and redistricting expert, said: “I think it’s a good seat” for Doggett.

Way to survive another re-districting target on your back, Congressman Doggett!! :toast:

[sonias]

2. Court Releases Congressional Maps

Texas Tribune 11/23/11

Court Releases Congressional Maps

A panel of three federal judges in San Antonio proposed new congressional districts for Texas today. It looks like U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and state Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, won't be running against each other. The map is a proposal; the court is seeking comments from the parties by noon Friday.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White won in 12 of the new districts while losing the state. Barack Obama won in 13 of them, including in CD-23, where U.S. Rep. Francisco "Quico" Canseco, R-San Antonio, is the incumbent. No other Republicans are in districts where the Democrats won. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, gets a new district where Obama won in 2008 and where White lost in 2010. No other Democrats got new districts where Republicans won at the top of the ticket.

Texas got four new seats as a result of reapportionment because it grew faster than other states. White and Obama won in three of them; in the new HD-36, Obama lost but White won.

With Plan map C220 pictures at the link above.

:kick:

[They_Live]

3. Yeah,

San Antonio and El Paso are practically right next to each other. Wait. No they're not! Are we the only state that has these district maps with ribbon thin pieces hundreds of miles long that look like they were made by folks on crazy pills?

[sonias]

4. They were drawn with people on crazy pills

I think that's a requirement for map drawing in Texas.

:shrug:

[sonias]

5. Flash Analysis - Lone Star Project on Congressional Maps

LoneStarProject.net

November 23, 2011

Flash Analysis
Court-Drawn Texas Congressional Districts Restore Fairness

Earlier today, the three-judge Federal District Court in San Antonio issued a http://gis1.tlc.state.tx.us/?PlanHeader=PLANc220">proposed redrawn congressional redistricting plan to be used for the 2012 elections in Texas. The Court-drawn plan is a clear rejection of the effort by Texas Republican leaders to increase their partisan strength within the Texas Congressional Delegation by violating the voting rights of Hispanics and African Americans. The Court’s plan much more fairly reflects the racial make-up and the political behavior of Texas.

(snip)
Political Impact

The map helps restore partisan fairness to the Texas Congressional Delegation. While Democrats statewide normally win between 41 and 45 percent of the vote statewide, the State-passed plan gave Democrats just 25 percent of the Congressional seats (9 of 36 seats). The Court proposed plan makes it likely that Democrats will win at least 36 percent of the seats in the delegation (13 of 36).

Likely Democratic Seats

Eight Hispanic opportunity districts which should favor Democratic candidates in the General Election. CD 23 is not a safe Democratic seat, but should be won by a strong Democratic candidate in almost any election climate. State Representative Pete Gallego certainly fits that description. District 35 is a new District that runs from San Antonio north to Hays County. Look for Joaquin Castro to run in this seat.

Three African American opportunity districts which should favor Democratic candidates in the General Election. These districts are likely to elect the Democratic incumbents.

Two Minority Coalition Districts which should favor Democratic candidates in the General Election. CD25 is a Travis-county based majority minority district that will likely re-elect Congressman Lloyd Doggett. The second is a new district, CD33, which is entirely in Tarrant County and includes large minority neighborhoods in Fort Worth and Arlington. State Representative Marc Veasey will run, and likely win this district, which Obama carried easily in both the 2008 Democratic Primary and General Election.

Much more analysis at the link above.

:kick:

[They_Live]

10. Of Course

Silly me. Forgot where I was for a second there.

:hi:

[sonias]

12. Te he he he

I know we live in a time warp in Texas and take our laughs when we can.

Happy Thanksgiving! :hi:

[sonias]

6. Court releases new congressional map for 2012 cycle

PoliTex blog Fort Worth Star-Telegram 11/23/11
Court releases new congressional map for 2012 cycle

A federal court has released a draft interim redistricting map for Texas congressional districts. The new map includes four extra districts from what the state has now but looks very different in parts from what the Republican-led Legislature approved earlier this year.

(snip)

The Court map includes a brand new district for Tarrant County, District 33, that brings together most of the county's minority communities. Less than an hour after the new map was released, Fort Worth City Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks announced her plan to run for the District 33 congressional seat and fellow Councilman Sal Espino announced that he's seriously considering a bid himself.

The map includes three other new congressional districts for the state. The last time a Democrat has represented a Tarrant County U.S. House seat was when Martin Frost served in the House, representing a district that included part of Tarrant County.

Here's how Tarrant County districts changed under the new map (incumbents listed in parentheses):

District 6 (Joe Barton, R-Arlington): Under the court map, the district will cover all of Ellis and Navarro Counties and parts of southeast Tarrant and southwest Dallas Counties including all of Mansfield and most of Grand Prairie. It's a change from current lines, in which the district extends further south and includes all of Arlington and Crowley and part of south Fort Worth. The court map includes less of Tarrant and Dallas Counties than the Legislature had wanted.

Joe Barton might actually be a real target for once. I'd love to see him lose this race even in the repuke primary.

:popcorn:

[sonias]

7. Court-Released Map Promises Important Maldef Victory For Latinos In Texas

MALDEF Press Release 11/23/11

COURT-RELEASED MAP PROMISES IMPORTANT MALDEF VICTORY FOR LATINOS IN TEXAS

Court supports increased Latino electoral opportunity throughout the State

SAN ANTONIO, TX – Today, MALDEF's tireless efforts in Texas federal courts have resulted in a court-proposed plan that promises increased Latino electoral opportunity throughout the state. A panel of federal judges in San Antonio has released a new redistricting plan that will improve representation for Texas Latinos, including the creation of an additional Latino opportunity district in South Texas. A Latino opportunity district is a district that includes a sufficient number of Latino voters to enable them to elect a candidate of their choice.

In July 2011, MALDEF filed suit against Texas for enacting discriminatory congressional and state redistricting plans. The plans, enacted by the state legislature, unfairly denied Latinos the ability to elect candidates of their choice, even as the growth in Texas's Latino population earned the state four new congressional districts following the 2010 Census. MALDEF argued on behalf of the Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force and seventeen individual voters.

Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel, stated, "For the second time in less than a decade, the federal court system has had to step in to ensure that Texas recognizes the right of Latino voters to play an increasing role in the Texas congressional delegation. The federal Voting Rights Act has again proven a vital and necessary protection of minority opportunity."

Today's court-ordered congressional redistricting plan:

Creates an additional congressional district (CD 35) along the I-35 corridor in South Texas that will afford Latinos the opportunity to elect their candidate of choice. At trial, MALDEF argued that the significant population growth in this region warranted the addition of a congressional district in this area.

Creates a congressional district in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (CD 33) that contains a plurality of Latino population and is likely to grow into a Latino opportunity district over the next decade. At trial, MALDEF argued that the over 1 million Latinos in the Dallas- Fort Worth Metroplex area should have the opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.

Restores Congressional District 27 in South Texas that the Texas Legislature had dismantled and provides an opportunity for Cameron County to anchor a congressional district. At trial, MALDEF argued that the State should not have dismantled CD27 to protect an incumbent who was not favored by Latino voters in the district. MALDEF also argued that the significant population growth in the Rio Grande Valley, along with its substantial need for additional representation, required basing an additional congressional district in the Valley.

Restores Congressional District 23 in West Texas and allows Latino voters in CD23 to elect their preferred candidate. CD23 was re-drawn by the federal court in 2006 in order to provide Latinos the opportunity to elect their candidate of choice following MALDEF's U.S. Supreme Court victory in LULAC v. Perry. At trial, MALDEF had argued that the Legislature’s dismantling of CD23 violated the Voting Rights Act.

"Latinos constituted 65% of the state’s population growth and are largely responsible for Texas gaining 4 new congressional seats," stated Nina Perales, MALDEF’s Vice President of Litigation. "Today's court-drawn plan is a repudiation of Texas’s strategy of diluting Latino voting strength and denying Latinos a fair chance to elect their preferred candidates."

The parties in the case have until Friday at noon to comment on the plan released by the three-judge panel.
-----------------------------

Founded in 1968, MALDEF is the nation's leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Often described as the "law firm of the Latino community," MALDEF promotes social change through advocacy, communications, community education, and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights, and political access. For more information on MALDEF, please visit: www.maldef.org

Thank you MALDEF! :applause::applause::applause:

:kick:

[white cloud]

8. What a great Thanksgiving winning present.

Hope fully we can Turn this place around before we are ruined.

[sonias]

9. It was a an early holiday present

Not expected this early. When you have republican appointed judges (probably meaning the judges are republicans too) drawing a map that turns back the burn marks the Texas legislative republicans left on our back, you know the kooks at the Lege went too far.

Hard to believe that the same judges the republicans kept insisting would do a better job for them in Washington, have stabbed them with their own fork both on the Congressional map and Texas House map.

http://txredistricting.org/post/13180435652/malc-hits-back-at-speaker-straus">Texas Redistricting blog 11/23/11
MALC hits back at Speaker Straus

(snip)
As you know, after months of trial proceedings in two-venues, a majority-Republican federal court in San Antonio, and a majority-Republican court in Washington, D.C., have both raised questions regarding the propriety of House map under Federal Law and the United States Constitution.

I will remind you Chairman Solomons refused to debate these principles throughout redistricting, choosing instead to defer to the Federal Courts. Now you attack Federal Judges for doing the job you refused to do when you had the opportunity.

Take that you whinny republican babies!
:spank::spank::spank:

[Ishoutandscream2]

11. K and R. Really good news!

[sonias]

13. US court won't block its Texas redistricting map

Yahoo News 11/23/11
US court won't block its Texas redistricting map

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal court refused late Friday to block a congressional redistricting map it drew up for Texas, rejecting a request from the state's attorney general just hours after the Republican accused the court of "undermining the democratic process."

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott had asked the San Antonio-based court to stay the implementation of its interim map, which the court drafted when minority groups challenged the original plan passed by the Republican-dominated state Legislature.

The court-drawn map would ensure minorities made up the majority in three additional Texas congressional districts. If the 2012 elections were held under the court's map, Democrats would have an advantage as they try to win back the U.S. House.

Abbott said he would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court-ordered map will remain in place until the legal fights are resolved.

Ruh Roh... te he he he...

:popcorn:

[sonias]

14. Where things stand as of Saturday morning

Texas Redistricting blog 11/26/11
Where things stand as of Saturday morning
A lot of things have happened the last few days on the redistricting front, so here’s a rundown on where things stand as of late Saturday morning.

(snip)

Late Wednesday night, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott asked the San Antonio court to stay implementation of the maps so the state could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The San Antonio panel denied the state’s request in split opinions late Friday afternoon.

:kick:

[Melissa G]

15. Sat evening update

Probably won't go anywhere but....

Abbott seeks emergency stay on redrawn districts

By Chuck Lindell | Saturday, November 26, 2011, 05:15 PM

Attorney General Greg Abbott said today that he will file an emergency challenge asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn redrawn state House and Senate districts.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2011/11/26/abbott_seeks_emergency_stay_on.html?cxntfid=blogs_postcards

[sonias]

16. I hope not

According to the Texas Redistricting blog backgrounder the bar for a stay at SCOTUS is a very high bar. Let's hope that the scumbag Scalia won't even pick up the case.

:kick:

[Melissa G]

17. I imagine the holiday weekend is helping us.

Candidate filing officially begins on Monday and Abbott wants the Stay before that. May all those Justices be too full of Turkey to mess with it.
:kick:

[white cloud]

18. FWS Telegrams article:

FYI
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/11/26/3552565/court-releases-final-map-of-texas.html

[sonias]

19. Analysis: A few more thoughts on Texas’ case for a Supreme Court stay

Texas Redistricting blog 11/28/11
Analysis: A few more thoughts on Texas’ case for a Supreme Court stay

Earlier posts at this blog have covered one of the hurdles Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott will need to overcome to get the Supreme Court to block interim maps drawn by the San Antonio panel - namely, the difficulty of showing that going forward with elections on the interim maps will result in ‘irreparable’ harm.

(snip)
But Judge Smith’s dissent points to another potential roadblock for the state - the fact that issues before the court are, well, actually kinda complicated.

A stay is, as any law student can tell you, an extraordinary remedy, and one of the requirements for a stay is that the party seeking the stay show that it has a ‘fair prospect’ of success on appeal. ...

(snip)
The existence of those open issues doesn’t mean the state won’t win on appeal. But they make it harder to predict early in the appeal (before full briefing and oral argument) that the state will win. That may well make the Supreme Court that much more reluctant to take the extraordinary step of blocking the order of another federal court, especially when the main harm is merely holding an election on maps that later may have to be redrawn using a different standard.

I have to say I really enjoy reading this blog because it helps me understand the process better. It really does take a lawyer with that kind of experience to explain it to us lay people. The news media doesn't do a good job of this at all.

Kudos to Michael Li for giving us this insight!

:applause: :applause::applause:

[sonias]

20. Candidates File While State Challenges Court-Drawn Maps

Texas Tribune 11/27/11

Candidates File While State Challenges Court-Drawn Maps

(snip)

Those four maps will be used — barring court action — in the 2012 elections. Candidates can start filing for office Monday and must do so by Dec. 15; the next day, Dec. 16, is the last day they can withdraw. The Democrats and Republicans hold their primaries on March 6; Libertarians and other parties will choose their nominees later in the year at conventions.

The differences between the Legislature's maps and the court-ordered maps range from significant to mundane. The judges said they were trying to leave the maps as similar to the current maps as population changes would allow. In its filings reacting to those maps, the state contends the courts overstepped their authority, drawing maps "without regard to established legal or constitutional principles," and argues that the maps are likely to be overturned on appeal.

The split in the court on the House map was telegraphed: Judge Jerry Smith of Houston, a Republican appointee on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, filed his own proposal before the court adopted a final plan. But the other two judges wrote of their surprise when he voted against them this weekend on a congressional map. Smith, they wrote, had been with them when they proposed the plan and opposed it only after reading comments from the lawyers. Those two — federal district judges Orlando Garcia and Xavier Rodriguez, both of San Antonio — voted together on both the Texas House and congressional maps. (Smith was appointed by Ronald Reagan, Garcia by Bill Clinton and Rodriguez by George W. Bush.)

In his dissent on the congressional plan, Smith said the Department of Justice objected to only two districts but that the court changed all 36 of them in minor or major ways. He wrote that it "fails the test" of drawing a map that meets federal law while "not intruding unnecessarily on legislative prerogative."

Well I don't like the description this story presents about the one judge who dissented on the maps. Supposedly it was his dissent opinion that Abbott used in his request for a stay. This makes me nervous now.

:scared:

[Melissa G]

21. Crud. Supremes are asking for briefs due Dec1

Yuck!

[sonias]

22. May not be a harbinger of doom

Texas Redistricting blog 11/28/11
Supreme Court asks for briefs on stay by December 1 @ 4 p.m.

Justice Scalia has asked redistricting plaintiffs to submit briefing on the state’s request for a stay of the interim state house and senate maps by 4 p.m. on December 1.

So is the request a harbinger of any sort? Probably not.

As explained in the backgrounder below, asking for briefing is not an uncommon step with Supreme Court stays, especially in high profile cases. In 2004, for example, the Supreme Court asked for briefs from the State of Texas in response to a request by minority groups and Democrats to stay the ‘DeLay map,’ even though the court ultimately rejected the stay request unanimously in a summary order.

This lawyer seems to know the process pretty well, and I'm hoping his gut feeling about it just being part of the process is right. Of course I would have felt better if Scalia would have rejected it straight up - but we know he's a partisan hack for the Rs. He's going to do as much as he can to help them.

Lets see how the rest of the court handles it even if Scalia refers it to the full court.

:kick:

[Melissa G]

23. Thanks for the update! n/t

[sonias]

24. Task Force to Abbott: Don't Mess With Texas

Austin Chronicle 11/30/11
Task Force to Abbott: Don't Mess With Texas

The League of Women Voters, MALDEF and the NAACP have a very simple message for Attorney General Greg Abbott: Quit trying to delay the 2012 elections.

After a three-judge federal panel approved new interim House, Senate and Congressional maps for the 2012 election, the AG has thrown a real Hail Mary, asking the Supreme Court of the United States to throw those maps out and go with the gerrymander that lawmakers shoved through last session.

That is not sitting well with the Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force, which gathered on Monday to counter Abbott's proposal. MALDEF attorney Luis Figueroa, who represents the task force in the ongoing law suits, explained the current situation: Since litigation continues in both DC and San Antonio, the maps represent "a short term resolution so that we can move forward with elections."

However, Abbott has asked Justice Antonin Scalia to throw out all three interim maps. In his filing about the House seats, he called the new map "entirely a judicial creation with no regard for the lines drawn through the political process." Well, duh, one supposes, but as Mexican American Legislative Caucus chair Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, rebutted, nearly half of all seats remain exactly the same as they were drawn under the 2011 GOP gerrymander. Figueroa said, "I think it's important to note that the attorney general never offered an alternative map in any of the litigation. They only offered the state map, and the map that they asked for was illegal."

Good for MALDEF once again! Setting the record straight! Great going for all these groups fighting for voters' rights!

:kick:

[efhmc]

25. Now in District 55. Traded one repuke for another, of

course. At least in District 54, we had a great new candidate running, Dr.Claudia Brown. If you are in that district, please let me know or call your county chair to get her information and support her.

[sonias]

26. State, feds argue over cause of delays in redistricting case

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/state-feds-argue-over-cause-of-delays-in-2007612.html">AAS 12/1/11

State, feds argue over cause of delays in redistricting case

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott implored the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday to speed up its part of the redistricting process, drawing criticism from the federal government and civil rights groups.

Abbott, in a letter to the federal agency, accused its civil rights division of using "dilatory tactics in an apparent effort to stall the process" so that the legislative and congressional maps drawn by the GOP-heavy Legislature would be ignored and interim maps drawn by a federal court in San Antonio would be used for the 2012 elections.

Abbott also asked that the division stop trying to further delay court proceedings in the Washington court case in which the state is seeking pre-clearance of the Legislature's redistricting maps. Texas and other states with a history of racial and ethnic discrimination must have redistricting maps pre-cleared by the federal government before they go into effect.

State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, took exception to Abbott's letter, saying the attorney general is the only reason the pre-clearance process is moving slowly.

"Abbott is attempting to pivot and shift the blame," said Martinez Fischer, who chairs the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, which has sued the state for creating maps that the caucus says dilute the minority vote.

Martinez Fischer said the pre-clearance process would have been quicker if Abbott, a Republican, had chosen to have pre-clearance considered by the Department of Justice instead of letting a District of Columbia federal court decide.

You are absolutely right Representative Martinez Fischer! The state of Texas, the republican critters in charge made the decision to take it to the D.C. courts over DOJ because they thought they would have a better chance of getting their gerrymandered map approved. And now they want to whine about it like a bunch of cry babies.

[sonias]

27. Abbott v. the DOJ

Paul Burka blog 12/2/11
Abbott v. the DOJ

Let me see if I understand this. First, Abbott wants to avoid submitting the Texas redistricting maps for preclearance at the Department of Justice. He tells everybody that he has figured out how to bypass the DOJ by going to the D.C. Circuit and moving for summary judgment from Republican-friendly judges. Then, to quote a certain prominent presidential candidate, “Oops!” The D.C. court denies summary judgment and orders a three-judge panel for the Western District of Texas to draw the maps. But the panel’s state House and Senate maps aren’t as GOP-friendly as the maps drawn by the Lege. All of a sudden Abbott’s strategy doesn’t look quite so clever, and legislators, particularly in the House, are screaming bloody murder.

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Melissa G]

28. WAAAAAAA!!!!!

:rofl: poor baby:rofl:

[sonias]

29. What’s at stake in Texas election cases

SCOTUS blog 12/4/11

What’s at stake in Texas election cases

Analysis

The first major dispute to unfold in the Supreme Court as the wave of legislative redistricting spreads across the Nation following the 2010 Census is centered in Texas, but has implications beyond the Lone Star State. And, if the Court accepts the boldest suggestion put before it by Texas’s lawyers, the Justices could dive deeply into the redistricting controversy during the current Term. The core issue is the power of federal courts to second-guess what state legislatures do when they draw new election maps for state legislative seats, and for those in a state’s delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives.


Right now, this dispute is in the hands of Justice Antonin Scalia, in his role as the Circuit Justice for the part of the country that includes Texas — the Fifth Circuit. So far, he has given no indication when a decision will come, whether he will rule alone or share the duty with his eight colleagues, and whether he will split up the pending Texas cases between the controversies over the Texas state house and state senate, and the controversy over Texas’s expanded congressional delegation. But the first indications of his or the Court’s reactions may come as early as Monday.

Texas is one of the states that has felt the biggest impact of the population shifts that showed up in the new Census. Between 2000 and 2010, its population grew by more than one fifth — that is, by 4.2 million. And much of that population growth — 2.8 million — came in its Hispanic population. That has meant that the existing election districts for the state legislature were seriously out of date, and violated the basic one-person, one-vote command of the Constitution. For its House of Representatives delegation, it meant a rise of four seats, to a new total of 36, and serious questions about the capacity of the burgeoning Hispanic population to choose Representatives that it prefers.

:kick:

[sonias]

30. Still waiting- SCOTUS watch: Nothing on Tuesday

Texas Redistricting blog 11/6/11
SCOTUS watch: Nothing today

Nearly 7 p.m. now in D.C., so it looks unlikely anything in the Texas redistricting cases will come out today.

The delay does suggest that the matter is being considered by the entire court rather than just by Justice Scalia (the circuit justice for the Fifth Circuit). That would be in keeping with custom though it is not a requirement under Supreme Court rules, which allow Justice Scalia to decide the matter on his own.

:popcorn: :scared:

[sonias]

31. D.C. court asks for briefing on benchmarks

Texas Redistricting blog 12/7/11
D.C. court asks for briefing on benchmarks

The three-judge panel presiding over the preclearance case in Washington entered an order this afternoon directing the Justice Department and intervenors to submit additional briefing on the appropriate section 5 benchmarks by 5 p.m. on December 12.

The court gave the State of Texas until 5 p.m. on December 14 to file responsive briefs.

For lay readers, the issue concerns whether, in light of the creation of the interim maps, the D.C. court should use the interim maps to gauge if the state’s plans result in retrogression.

(snip)
Which plan is used as the benchmark plan also could impact the state’s chances of preclearance.

Not sure what to make of this. Does this help or hurt DOJ and minority interests?

:kick: