Supreme Court to Review Texas Redistricting

Supreme Court to Review Texas Redistricting
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By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer 12 minutes ago

The Supreme Court said Monday it would consider the constitutionality
of a Texas congressional map engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay that helped
Republicans gain seats in Congress.

The 2003 boundaries helped Republicans win 21 of the state's 32 seats
in Congress in the last election_ up from 15. They were approved amid
a nasty battle between Republican leaders and Democrats and minority
groups in Texas.

The contentiousness also reached Washington, where the Justice
Department approved the plan although staff lawyers concluded that it
diluted minority voting rights. Because of past discrimination
against minority voters, Texas is required to get Justice Department
approval for any voting changes to ensure they don't undercut
minority voting.

Justices will consider a constitutional challenge to the boundaries
filed by various opponents. The court will hear two hours of
arguments, likely in April, in four separate appeals.

The legal battle at the Supreme Court was over the unusual timing of
the Texas redistricting, among other things. Under the Constitution,
states must adjust their congressional district lines every 10 years
to account for population shifts.

But in Texas the boundaries were redrawn twice after the 2000 census,
first by a court, then by state lawmakers in a second round promoted
by DeLay.

DeLay had to step down as House Majority Leader earlier this year
after he was indicted in Texas on state money laundering charges.

DeLay and two people who oversaw his fundraising activities are
accused of funneling prohibited corporate political money through the
national Republican Party to state GOP legislative candidates. Texas
law prohibits spending corporate money on the election or defeat of a
candidate.

The alleged scheme was part of a plan DeLay and others set in motion
to help Republicans win control of the Texas House in 2002 elections.
The Republican Legislature then adopted a DeLay-backed congressional
voting district map.

Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, called lawmakers back for three
special sessions in 2003 to tackle the map, despite vehement
opposition from Democrats who walked out and even left the state to
halt progress.

DeLay was later rebuked by the House Ethics Committee for using the
Federal Aviation Administration to track down a private plane that
shuttled some Democratic lawmakers out of the state.

The Texas case has been to the Supreme Court once before, and
justices ordered a lower court to reconsider the boundaries following
a decision in another redistricting case from Pennsylvania. Justices
in that splintered opinion left little room for lawsuits claiming
that political gerrymandering