DeLay's Texas Voting Map Raises Partisanship Issue at Top Court

[Judi Lynn]

DeLay's Texas Voting Map Raises Partisanship Issue at Top Court
March 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court, tackling partisan politics in an election year, will decide whether it should throw out Texas congressional districts engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

The court hears two hours of arguments today on challenges to the redistricting map that helped Republicans gain five U.S. House seats in the 2004 election. Republicans, who took control of the state Legislature a year earlier, departed from the customary practice of redistricting only once after each 10-year census and enacted a new map even though the lines had been redrawn in 2001.

In essence, the court will decide ``whether there's a constitutionally enforceable limit on partisan greed in the redistricting process,'' said Nathaniel Persily, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Voters who challenged the new districts are asking the Supreme Court to rule that the Constitution's equal-protection guarantee bars states from redrawing the map in mid-decade when the only purpose is partisan gain.

The high court has never ruled a voting map unconstitutional on grounds of excessive partisanship.
(snip/...)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aoUVct6vA4p8&refer=us

[babylonsister]

1. Judi Lynn, you rock for all the

info you dig up!
I'm particularly interested in da bugman as he is my rep, but hopefully not for long!
Will you post this in the TX forum? Pleeze?

[Sydnie]

2. Isn't your primary coming up really soon?

I hope he gets his hat handed to him!

[babylonsister]

3. Hi, my friend! Yes, 3/7! I'm watching like a hawk!

I have no say in the primary but this is all brand new for me, so sort of exciting.

[Sydnie]

5. Please don't let it pass without letting me know

your experiences ... watching it as physically close as you are. I can't get the feeling from way up here in Massachusetts.

I want to see him cry. I want to see him turn red faced with defeat. I want to see him slink away from the mic when the lights go down and they aren't interested in what he has to say anymore unless it contains the word "guilty" in some way.

I want him to slip into oblivion and never be given a moments notice again except when he is up for parole denial.

Can you tell that I don't care for him much? :rofl:

:hug: I will live the excitement through you, if you don't mind. ;)

[babylonsister]

8. The bugman? Ewwwwwww. I don't care for him much either.

:evilgrin: I've seen one lawn sign - ugh - but nothing else. I'll keep you posted!

[Judi Lynn]

4. Hi, babylonsister! I just posted it over there. Thanks for the suggestion!

[babylonsister]

7. Judi Lynn, I've been known to steal your sites,

because you just bring up news that ring my chimes, i.e., TX! Thank you so much for doing that! I'm glad you posted, and please, when anything pertains to TX, trust me, the TX forum wants to know!:hug:

[Judi Lynn]

10. I'll try to remember. Texas is big for all of us, now!

So much political rough stuff, and wierdness has been going on there, and it ALL affects the rest of the country.

I'm afraid to hope for justice, as it's been so hard to find, but there are a LOT of Texas politicians who really have it coming to them!



Buzzflash reader's sign!
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/07/30_delay.html

[stop the bleeding]

12. I second that on the" you rock" quote

:yourock:

[MADem]

6. Well, butter mah butt an' call me a biscuit!!!

PARTISAN GREED, indeed!

[Sydnie]

9. I can't wait to see how the two New Kids on the Block will

vote on this. Could be partisan greed isn't reserved for Delay and his ilk.

What ever happened with the use of the HLS jet to retrieve the dems that were on walkabout? Was he ever censured for that?

[fasttense]

11. Time for the dancing supremes to pay back their masters. n/t

[0007]

13. Five pieces!

Republican Control

A federal court upheld the districts. Texas Republicans now hold 21 seats and Democrats 11.

Former Representative Martin Frost of the Dallas area was one of four Democrats unseated under the new map in 2004. A fifth Democrat didn't seek re-election.

``DeLay was trying to maximize the number of seats for the Republicans, and he didn't care where he got the seats,'' Frost said in an interview. ``What they did to mine was chop it up in five pieces.''

[mom cat]

14. If the Supremes do not find that this was illegal, then nothing that

Bushco ever does will be deemed illegal.

[kainah]

15. I love that the title calls it "Delay's Map"

the culture of corruption meme is catching fire in headlines such as this.