Attorney general Greg Abbott’s push to reopen the redistricting battle that was waged in 2011 and wound up in the federal courts threatens to blow up the session. The District Court of the District of Columbia has already ruled that Republican lawmakers intentionally discriminated against minority voters while drawing new boundaries in 2011. Apparently Speaker Straus does not think another round of redistricting is in his (or the House’s) best interest; he dispatched an emissary to the Senate to deliver the message that the House has no appetite for further redistricting at this time.
Abbott’s conduct of the redistricting case has already resulted in one ruinous election delay; now he is putting the 2014 elections in jeopardy with a maneuver that is 100 percent partisan. I keep clinging to the hope that Abbott might be an upgrade over Perry, but I haven’t seen anything that would indicate so.
