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Before they’ve even been signed into law, Texas’ new maps for Congress and the statehouse are being challenged in court for allegedly discriminating against Latino voters.
The plaintiffs include LULAC, La Unión del Pueblo Entero and the Texas Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents. They are represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which successfully challenged the state’s mapmaking from a decade ago.
The legal challenge comes as the Legislature rounds out its redistricting work to incorporate a decade of population gains into new maps for Congress, the Texas House and Senate and the State Board of Education. Of the 4 million new residents the state gained since 2010, 95% were people of color; half were Hispanic.
Yet the maps advanced by the Republican-controlled Legislature deny Hispanics greater electoral influence — and pull back on their ability to control elections. The House map drops the number of districts in which Hispanics make up the majority of eligible voters from 33 to 30. The Congressional map reduces the number of districts with a Hispanic voting majority from eight to seven.
“Despite having only recently been found liable by a federal court for intentional racial discrimination in redistricting, Texas has once again adopted plans that dilute Latino voting strength,” Nina Perales, the vice president of litigation for MALDEF, said in a statement. “The new redistricting plans are an unlawful attempt to thwart the changing Texas electorate and should be struck down.”
