Texas Vote Flap Fuels Gerrymander Charge

Texas Vote Flap Fuels Gerrymander Charge
By E.J. KESSLER
December 9, 2005

The congressional district of a high-ranking Jewish Democrat is at the center of a dispute over whether a reapportionment plan pushed by Texas Republicans illegally diluted minority voting strength.

The Dallas-Fort Worth district, which Rep. Martin Frost represented from 1978 to 2004, was eliminated in 2003 by Republicans working on behalf of then-House majority leader Tom DeLay. DeLay was seeking to bolster the GOP majority in Congress by ridding the Texas delegation of some of its Democrats, who had a 17 to 15 edge in the delegation.

Last week, The Washington Post uncovered a 2003 Justice Department memo that determined that the Texas plan — and in particular, the elimination of Frost's district — violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Under the statute, states with a history of racial discrimination, including Texas, must obtain advance clearance for any redistricting plans. The Post reported that the memo's analysis was endorsed unanimously by six lawyers and two analysts in the department's voting rights section, but was overruled by two political appointees who allowed the Republicans to proceed with the plan.

A political group with links to Frost, the Lone Star Project, has fought the 2003 GOP plan and now is appealing it to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to decide whether it will take the case in the coming weeks.
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http://www.forward.com/articles/6991



Rep. Martin Frost

They seem to be just fine and dandy with this stuff.

Just Right Wing Hacks with extraordinary Power......

Is that it cut the legs out from DeLay in his own district. Didn't he only scrape by with around 52% last year?

It's kinda like saying that bribery has some positive effects.

Delay's district is now "unbalanced" because of the influx of Katrina evacuees. Poetic justice is beautiful!