Federal Judges Redraw Political Map Of Texas Congressional Districts Changed To Eliminate Racial Gerrymandering

A panel of three federal judges on Tuesday reconfigured 13 Texas congressional districts, a move affecting nearly half of the state’s House delegation. In ordering the changes, the judges sought to eliminate racial gerrymandering in three mostly minority districts in Houston and Dallas. Ten adjoining districts were affected when those that had been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court were redrawn.

Under the judicial plan, an open primary will be held in the affected districts Nov. 5, with runoffs where necessary on Dec. 10. The results of primaries held in March also were thrown out by the judges Tuesday.

“For the first time, voters in Texas are going to have sensible and constitutional congressional districts,” said Edward Blum, one of six Republican plaintiffs who challenged the state’s district boundaries in a 1994 lawsuit. The judges rejected arguments that the redistricting will adversely affect minorities, pointing out that their plan provides for higher minority populations in some districts than the state proposed.

In June, the Supreme Court held that the boundaries of the three mostly minority districts were unconstitutionally based on race. They are Democratic Rep. Gene Green’s oddly shaped district, designed in 1991 to be Houston’s Latino district; a predominantly black district in Houston represented by Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee; and a mostly black district in Dallas represented by Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson.

Last month, state officials and plaintiffs failed to meet a deadline to create a compromise redistricting plan. The federal judges then decided to redraw the lines themselves.