A federal trial starts Wednesday in which several organizations will argue Texas redrew Congressional and state office districts. The League of United Latin American Citizens has sued, saying the districts drawn after the 2020 Census violate the voting rights act.
After the 2020 Census, Texas gained two additional seats in Congress. In 2021, state lawmakers drew new boundaries.
Until 2013, Texas and other states determined to have discriminatory histories had to have federal approval for new voting policies or legislative maps. The 2020 Census was the first where the state could redraw boundaries without "preclearance."
Several lawsuits have been filed since the latest maps were introduced in 2021. A federal trial in League of United Latin American Citizens v Abbott starts Wednesday.
The National Redistricting Foundation is working with LULAC and says the trial will show the 2021 map violates the Voting Rights Act by "diluting the power of minority voters."
"These forces are doing all they can to enact egregious gerrymanders wherever they can, even if it means dismantling the crown jewel of the civil rights movement, the Voting Rights Act," says the foundation's executive director, Marina Jenkins.
The U.S. Census says Texas gained more residents than any other state from 2010 to 2020, and the state gained two additional seats in Congress. The Census says the state's population increased 16% adding about four million residents.
Of those new residents, the U.S. Census says 95% were "people of color," which includes those who are Asian, Black, Hispanic and other ethnicities. The population of people who identify as white increased 187,252; the population of people who list Asian increased 613,092; the popuation of those described as Black increased 557,887, the population of Hispanic increased 1,980,796.
According to the Census, those who listed white as their ethnicity account for 39.75% of the total popuation; Hispanics now account for 39.26%.
Despite those numbers, Jenkins says the majority of Texas Congressional districts still have a white majority.
"The court should strike down this map and order the enactment of a new, fair Congressional map that includes two new Latino-opportunity districts," she says.
Jenkins says one district should be in the Metroplex, and the other should cover Houston.
Federal law allows Congressional districts to be drawn to support one political party over another; they cannot be drawn based on race.
When announcing the maps in 2021, Texas Republicans described them as "race blind." Joan Huffman led the effort in the Texas Senate and said they did not look at any racial data when drawing districts. She said then legal counsel had said they would stand up to any legal challenge.
The trial is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Wednesday in El Paso. NRF says the trial is expected to last four weeks.