D.C. Court Eric Holder led U.S. Justice Dept. have yet to weigh-in
By Jim Cardle
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Tuesdays redistricting announcement out of San Antonio may give some the impression that a May 29th Primary will be held after all. Sophisticated politicos however will
remember we have been down this road before and neither party should count is chickens before the eggs are hatched.
Depending on how anyone in Texas interprets or counts Congressional seats based upon yesterdays Congressional Districts announcement Republicans see a 2-2 split of the states new census-derived Congressional Districts giving them 25 out of 36 seats because the new San Antonio court-drawn map looks much like the legislatures original redistricting proposal the Washington D.C. District Court in charge of pre-clearing Texas maps under the Voting Rights Act may have a decidedly different opinion. And that court has yet to weigh in.
Yesterdays compromise Redistricting Map announcement generated renewed hope for a May 29 primary which we have seen before. And it was just recently months ago.
The last time a compromise came out it lasted a matter of hours. And because it didnt wait for further guidance from a D.C. Court Texas may not yet be done drawing.
- A new Democratic-leaning minority district based around Ft. Worth for example comes straight from the first court map.
- The court map preserves much of the State Legislatures originally drawn maps including a four-way split of Austin & the Travis County area which
could put Texas back on the redistricting merry-go-round.
- The D.C. District Court in charge of preclearing Texas maps under the Voting Rights Act criticized that split and lawyers following the case say that could lead it to deny preclearance making it likely the new court map would lose a preclearance case too.
- The San Antonio Court could have avoided this by waiting for guidance from the D.C. Courts decision but that would have caused another problem Texas and its state parties desperately wish to avoid.
- State Party officials have long said they need maps by March 3rd in order to hold the already-delayed May primary and the D.C. Court said back on February 1 was unlikely.
If the D.C. Court or the Eric Holder led U.S. Justice Department decline to stop the maps Texas very likely will be able to hold its statewide primary on May 29th. But until we hear from them ignoring the possibly of further alterations are made at ones own peril.
Not until then will Texas its voters or potential candidates know for sure if weve finally reached the end of the line.
