Critics of the Justice Department’s refusal to grant preclearance to the Texas House and congressional redistricting maps will no doubt attribute DOJ’s action to politics. And no doubt politics had something to do with it. But I never thought that DOJ would approve a map that ignored the demographic facts, which this map does. Virtually ALL of the growth in Texas’s population in the last decade is attributable to Hispanic growth. How can the state defend a map that does not respond to this reality? How can Texas gain four seats in Congress and none of them be Hispanic seats? This is a travesty. The map overreaches in its creators’ desire to send second-rate Republican legislators to Washington. Mike Jackson? Randy Weber? Give me a break. Sam Rayburn is turning over in his grave.

Tagged: DOJ, preclearance, redistricting maps, texas redistricting