If You’re Mad About Texas’ Redistricting, Blame Biden’s DOJ:
While it first appeared that the Biden DOJ’s gamble paid off after a district court struck down the redistricting plan, the county appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Five years ago, Galveston, Texas, redrew its district map in a way that eliminated the sole Democrat-held county seat. Under President Joe Biden, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the county in a bid to hold onto the single Democrat-held seat, and in doing so, gambled his party’s chances of controlling Congress.
And now, Democrats are poised to pay the price.
Texas Ignites Nationwide Redistricting Debate
Earlier this month Gov. Greg Abbott called a special legislative session to address key priorities, including the redrawing of congressional districts. The move followed a DOJ finding that four districts were unlawfully gerrymandered on racial grounds.
In a letter from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ contends that Texas’ current congressional maps violate the Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment. The DOJ points to the recent Petteway v. Galveston County ruling from the 5th Circuit, which held that the Voting Rights Act (VRA) does not require minority-coalition districts. Minority-coalition seats are voting districts where multiple racial or ethnic minorities are grouped together to form a majority of the population.
The DOJ argues the four districts in question were originally drawn to create minority-coalition seats (or were the result of coalition districts nearby) and therefore must be redrawn.
Biden DOJ Drew First Blood
Petteway v. Galveston County stems from a decision the Biden DOJ made in 2022 when it sued Galveston County, alleging that the county’s new district map violated the VRA.
According to the county’s legal brief, Galveston County is a majority white county, with black and Latino residents accounting for a combined 38.6 percent. Following the 2020 census, the county decided to redraw its district map to better reflect the growing population; between 2010 and 2020, the county reports, its population “increased by almost 60,000 people” and, more specifically, the “Hispanic population increased from 22% to 25%” while the black population “decreased from 14% to 12%,” according to the county’s brief.
Notably, the new map did not need pre-clearance from the DOJ since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Shelby County v. Holder invalidated the formula previously used to determine which jurisdictions must receive federal approval before changing congressional maps. Although Galveston County was still bound by other provisions of the VRA in drafting their new district map, a violation of the VRA would require evidence that a minority group had the potential to elect a representative of its choice in the district but that district lines thwarted that opportunity. --->READ MORE HERE
Dems Sweep Census Problems Under The Rug In Meltdown Over Republican-Led Redistricting:
Several Republican-controlled states are looking at (potentially) undertaking mid-decade redistricting that could boost the GOP’s prospects of retaining the House in the 2026 midterms. And predictably, leftists are going berserk.
After the Texas Legislature released a new congressional map on Wednesday that could reportedly help Republicans pick up five additional House seats next year, state and national Democrats quickly rushed to characterize the proposal as an “attack” on “democracy” and an attempt to “suppress” voters.
Of course, such hyperbolic tantrums completely neglect the partisan gerrymandered maps enacted in Democrat-run states like Maryland and Illinois and leftist-led efforts to replicate them in places such as Wisconsin. And while entertaining to watch, the left’s meltdown drowns out two other major points on the redistricting issue that they’ve seemingly tried to sweep under the rug.
Townhall.com’s Guy Benson raised one of these issues in a Wednesday column, in which he highlighted a problem that came to fruition several years ago involving the U.S. Census Bureau. After its 2020 census, the agency released a report disclosing significant errors that favored Democrats in future elections.
As The Federalist previously reported, the agency effectively found that five of the six states that experienced population undercounts are considered “red states,” and six of the eight states that saw population overcounts are “blue states.” Put another way, the undercounted states (most of which are considered “Republican”) were apportioned fewer congressional seats than they were supposed to receive, while the overcounted states (most of which are considered “Democrat”) were apportioned more than what they were entitled to. --->READ MORE HERE
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