The voters of color, civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers who have long challenged the validity of Texas’ political maps were dealt a bruising loss earlier this year when the U.S. Supreme Court signed off on most of the state’s current political boundaries and pushed aside claims that state lawmakers had intentionally discriminated against voters of color when they drew the maps. But a crucial question remained in the case: Would the state’s opponents ask the courts to force Texas back under federal oversight of its electoral map drawing, given previous maps that federal judges ruled discriminatory? Their answer came Wednesday in a series of brief court filings in which some of the plaintiffs in the case indicated they wanted to press forward on those high stakes efforts.
Like several other states with histories of discriminating against voters of color, Texas for decades was required to obtain federal approval of any changes to its elections — including adjustments to political boundaries to account for the state’s growing population. That changed in 2013 when the high court freed the state from federal guardianship.
Full Article: Opponents of Texas maps pressing forward on federal oversight request | The Texas Tribune.