Three Judge Federal Panel holds Texas Congressional Districts 23, 27 & 35 violate Constitution or Federal Voting Rights Act
Texas 23rd District Congressman Will Hurd
By: Miguel Munoz, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2017
A three judge federal panel from the United States District Court, Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, held that Texas Congressional Districts 23 (includes Eagle Pass), 27, and 35 violate either the U.S. Constitution or the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 because Texas (Republican) Legislators intentionally discriminated against minorities when they redrew these districts by diluting their voting strength in electing their U.S. House of Representative (Congressman) on Friday, March 10, 2017.
The three judge federal panel ruled in a 2-1 split decision with U.S. District Chief Judge Orlando Garcia and U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the Western District of Texas in the majority decision while U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jerry Smith dissented from the majority opinion. This federal voting rights case has been litigated since 2011 when it was filed. The three judge majority decision requires that the Texas Legislature redraw these Congressional districts for the next election in 2018.
The majority decision states “The Court finds that the evidence persuasively demonstrates that the map drawers intentionally packed [concentrated certain populations] and cracked [diluted certain populations] on the basis of race (using race as a proxy for voting behavior) with the intent to dilute minority voting strength.” In other words, the Texas Legislators intentionally discriminated against minorities when redrawing these Congressional districts on the basis of race, diluting their voting strength to elect the Congressman of their choice.
The 23rd Texas Congressional District is currently held by Republican Will Hurd of Helotes, Texas while the 27th Congressional District is held by Republican Blake Farenthold of Corpus Christi, Texas, and the 35th Congressional District is held by Democrat Lloyd Doggett of Austin, Texas.
Texas 23rd District Congressman Will Hurd defeated former incumbent Pete P. Gallego of Alpine, Texas in 2014 and won re-election in November 2016 against Gallego, a Democrat. The new three judge federal panel decision will now change the 2018 election for the 23rd Texas Congressional District as the Texas Legislature will have to redraw the district to comply with the decision. Many political observers have noted that the northwestern part of Bexar County and Medina County in the district may have to be deleted from the district, which is precisely the voting strength of Republican Will Hurd. Some political observers note that the 23rd Congressional District should be a U.S.-Mexico border district that is predominantly Hispanic.
This is the second federal court decision to find that the drawing of the State’s political districts by the Republican-majority Texas Legislature in 2010 intentionally discriminated against minorities such as Hispanics and African-Americans voting rights on the basis of race by gerrymandering to dilute their voting strength within the State of Texas. Texas political observers have noted that it is no secret that the Republican-led Texas Legislature have intentionally discriminated against minorities on the basis of race to prevent them from having more minorities elected to both the state and federal political posts within the State of Texas.
The Texas Office of the State Demographer in a study titled “Texas Population Projections 2010-2050” predicts that Hispanics will surpass the population of Anglos in the state in 2020 and will become the majority overall in the state in 2042. Texas demographics will most certainly change the political landscape in the state if state and federal political districts are legally and fairly drawn based on population instead of legally impermissible districts intentionally drawn on the basis of race.
