Redistrict Fight Will Go Before High Court

[papau]

The Wall Street Journal's Cummings and Bravin predict: "Any decision by the high court is unlikely to affect the midterm elections in Texas, since primaries there are scheduled to take place a week after the March 1 oral arguments on the case."
==============================
"In a surprise move, the high court said it would consider reining in the most extreme forms of partisan gerrymandering. The court previously has rejected such challenges, concluding it is impossible to separate partisan politics from the drawing of electoral districts," – (but Justice Anthony M. Kennedy cast the deciding vote, saying he could have gone the other way if partisan gerrymandering became so extreme as to be unconstitutional because it deprived the minority of fair representation.)


http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-scotus13dec13,1,1845747,full.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage

Redistrict Fight Will Go Before High Court
Critics say Republican remapping in Texas, led by Tom DeLay, diluted minority voters' power.
By David G. Savage Times Staff Writer December 13, 2005

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a constitutional challenge to the hotly disputed Texas redistricting plan engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in 2003 that handed Republicans six additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In a surprise move, the high court said it would consider reining in the most extreme forms of partisan gerrymandering. The court previously has rejected such challenges, concluding it is impossible to separate partisan politics from the drawing of electoral districts.

But the Texas case stands out because Republicans pushed through the redistricting as soon as they gained control of both houses of the state Legislature — just two years after a different redistricting plan based on the latest census, the traditional yardstick, had been approved by the courts.

The challengers call it a purely partisan move that violated the Constitution because it deprived Democrats of a fair and equal chance to elect representatives of their choice. They say the new congressional boundaries were drawn to dilute the voting power of blacks and Latinos.

The justices said they would take up the legal challenge from Democrats and minority voters in the spring and rule by June.<snip>

[papau]

1. Supreme Court to Hear Dispute on Texas Redistricting

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/13/politics/13scotus.html
December 13, 2005
Supreme Court to Hear Dispute on Texas Redistricting
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would decide the validity of the much-disputed Congressional map that Texas Republicans pushed through the State Legislature two years ago in a highly unusual mid-decade redistricting that led to the loss of five Democratic Congressional seats.
The court agreed to hear appeals brought by four groups of plaintiffs representing Democratic, Hispanic and black voters as well as the city of Austin and its surrounding county. The justices will hear the cases on an expedited basis on March 1, in time to issue a decision by the end of the current term in late June, but not in time to avoid the prospect of turmoil in Texas politics should any aspect of the 2003 plan be overturned. The state's Congressional primaries are March 7.
Not since Bush v. Gore, the decision that resolved the 2000 presidential election, has the Supreme Court ventured so deeply into a legal dispute at the core of partisan politics.
In the 2004 Congressional election, with the new plan in place, the Texas delegation went from an even division of 16 Republicans and 16 Democrats to 21 Republicans and 11 Democrats. The plan was engineered by Representative Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican and former House majority leader.<snip>

[papau]

2. DeLay, Republicans Face Political Setback on Texas Voting Map

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=a1G4iHwLeq90
DeLay, Republicans Face Political Setback on Texas Voting Map
By Laura Litvan and Greg Stohr
Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to review congressional redistricting in Texas is a new setback for Republicans and Representative Tom DeLay, who lost his House leadership post over the issue and now finds the plan he engineered in legal jeopardy.
The high court may force a redrafting of the redistricting map that helped Republicans pick up five U.S. House seats in Texas in the 2004 elections. The decision to consider the case is a symbolic boost to Democrats in Texas and Congress, without guaranteeing them more seats as they seek to win back control of the House.
DeLay, then House majority leader, worked to elect state lawmakers who backed the change and then personally visited the Capitol in Austin to consult on where to draw the district lines. He was indicted Oct. 3 on money-laundering and conspiracy charges related to fund-raising for the Texas statehouse candidates.
``This is another blow to DeLay,'' said Amy Walter, House editor of the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter based in Washington.
The court may send the Republican-backed map back to a Texas court or the Legislature for redrawing, or order a return to an earlier districting plan drawn after the 2000 Census, said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas in Austin.
The court's decision also has the potential to complicate the Texas election calendar, including the primary scheduled for March 7. <snip>

[guidod]

3. it would be nice but...

Remember the Supreme Court is tilted to the right.

[zbdent]

4. Let me guess

5 to 3 voting in DeLay's favor . . . at best . . .

[guidod]

5. They will protect DeLay

the same way they elected Bushdick.

[pushycat]

6. Is SC involved because Justice overruled a State privilege?

Seems like this is still a State issue, related to voting rights of Texans. SC should look at why Justice overruled a logical, legal opinion at the state level and stay out politics.