Supreme Court throws out judge-drawn Texas electoral maps

[Conservative]

Supreme Court Throws Out Judge-drawn Texas Electoral Maps | Fox News

The Supreme Court has thrown out electoral maps drawn by federal judges in Texas that favored minorities. The unsigned opinion Friday left the fate of Texas' April primaries unclear.

The justices ordered the three-judge court in San Antonio to come up with new plans, but did not compel the use of maps created by Texas' Republican-dominated state legislature. Only Justice Clarence Thomas said he would have gone that far.

Controversy over the maps arose from redrawing political boundaries based on results of the 2010 census that found that Texas added more than 4 million new residents, mostly Latinos and African-Americans, since 2000. The minority groups complained they were denied sufficient voting power by Republican lawmakers who sought to maximize GOP electoral gains in violation of the landmark Voting Rights Act.

So, the Dems don't get what they wanted, and neither do the Republicans. Back to square on for this one, folks.

 

[ladyliberal]

This is shaping up to be a real mess. The inability to generate a map in a timely manner is going to really impair the democratic process in Texas in this cycle.

From my brief reading of the decision, it seems as though the SC did not dispute that the original map violated the VRA, or that the VRA is constitutional. However, they did strongly suggest that the lower court should have relied on the legislature-drawn map as much as possible. In other words, they seem to want the court to take an illegal map and transform it as minimally as possible to make it legal (the court had originally discarded the legislature-drawn map altogether). This seems reasonable in theory, but I'm not sure how easy it will be for the court in practice, and I'm not sure whether the SC knows either. We seem to be in new territory here.

 

[Inthemiddle]

I'm a little puzzled by the thinking here. The SC says that the lower court should have redrawn A, B, and C, but not D, E, and F. How is that supposed to be possible? The lay of one district necessarily is going to affect how the others are shaped. Not having read the opinion yet, my initial impression is that I feel like the SCOTUS demonstrated great weakness here. They should have been a little more forth right. What they've done is put an unworkable demand on the lower court, which won't be rectifiable without the state rewriting its own map in the first place. Which, BTW, I think is what needs to happen ultimately, instead of relying on the courts to do it. But from a practical matter I think it would be better for the SCOTUS to have simply maintained that the state's maps were inadequate, and put the burden directly on them to fix it, with a timeline and a condition that if the timeline is not met, the circuit court would have carte blanche to redraw the maps any which way suits their fancy.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

This is shaping up to be a real mess. The inability to generate a map in a timely manner is going to really impair the democratic process in Texas in this cycle.

From my brief reading of the decision, it seems as though the SC did not dispute that the original map violated the VRA, or that the VRA is constitutional. However, they did strongly suggest that the lower court should have relied on the legislature-drawn map as much as possible. In other words, they seem to want the court to take an illegal map and transform it as minimally as possible to make it legal (the court had originally discarded the legislature-drawn map altogether). This seems reasonable in theory, but I'm not sure how easy it will be for the court in practice, and I'm not sure whether the SC knows either. We seem to be in new territory here.

The Procedure is to return the map as unacceptable and make the legislature re do it. We went through this in NC when the Dems kept drawing illegal maps for minorities. They made a district that stretched for 70 or so miles along an interstate in clear violation of State law.

 

[Conservative]

This is shaping up to be a real mess. The inability to generate a map in a timely manner is going to really impair the democratic process in Texas in this cycle.

From my brief reading of the decision, it seems as though the SC did not dispute that the original map violated the VRA, or that the VRA is constitutional. However, they did strongly suggest that the lower court should have relied on the legislature-drawn map as much as possible. In other words, they seem to want the court to take an illegal map and transform it as minimally as possible to make it legal (the court had originally discarded the legislature-drawn map altogether). This seems reasonable in theory, but I'm not sure how easy it will be for the court in practice, and I'm not sure whether the SC knows either. We seem to be in new territory here.

Did you even read the OP article, or post?

but did not compel the use of maps created by Texas' Republican-dominated state legislature

says exactly the opposite of what you just said.

 

[WillowTree]

Judges aren't supposed to draw maps. The Legislature is to draw the maps. Get it now dummies?

 

[Teals_Of_Wonder]

Thank God, here we are in 2012 and up t0 70% of American has finally figured out what a bunch of selfish, lying, uneducated, too lazy to find a job rats 20 to 25% of our population is. Democrats in general are not well educated, they just want to shoot their mouths off, blaming the current republican president for all of our problems, and in return ask for handouts from their base to help pay for their homes, yaghts, and expensive vacations!!! Hmm,,,kinda sounds like Obama and Kerry !

 

[konradv]

I don't understand why this is done by people and not a computer. How hard would it be to write an algorithm that takes into account how many people +/- there should be in each district and keeps communities as intact as possible?

 

[Teals_Of_Wonder]

and next they will be screaming that in 2012 the nominee should be elected by the popular vote,,yah, lets allow New York, Cally and Illinois decide the election,,,the hell with the 40 red states !!!

 

[J.E.D]

Judges aren't supposed to draw maps. The Legislature is to draw the maps. Get it now dummies?

If the legislature had drawn a fair map, judges would not have gotten involved. Get it now, dummy?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Judges aren't supposed to draw maps. The Legislature is to draw the maps. Get it now dummies?

If the legislature had drawn a fair map, judges would not have gotten involved. Get it now, dummy?

You mean ike how it took 2 years and numerous court cases to force the Democratic legislature in NC to draw their map? No Judge did it they just kept ordering the legislature to redraw it. That is the precedent and legal procedure.

 

[Conservative]

Judges aren't supposed to draw maps. The Legislature is to draw the maps. Get it now dummies?

If the legislature had drawn a fair map, judges would not have gotten involved. Get it now, dummy?

SCOTUS essentially told the judges who drew the map to fuck off, get it now, dummy?

 

[The Rabbi]

Supporting designated minority areas makes the Democrats into Afrikaaner apartheid supporters.
Why do we persist with this nonsense after 40 years?

 

[J.E.D]

Judges aren't supposed to draw maps. The Legislature is to draw the maps. Get it now dummies?

If the legislature had drawn a fair map, judges would not have gotten involved. Get it now, dummy?

SCOTUS essentially told the judges who drew the map to fuck off, get it now, dummy?

After the state court told the TX GOP to fuck off. Get it now, you brain-dead moron?

 

[J.E.D]

By the way, Con, how's that Flame Zone thread working out for you? Still obsessed with my cock, or have you moved on to stalking someone else? Silly little man.

 

[WillowTree]

If the legislature had drawn a fair map, judges would not have gotten involved. Get it now, dummy?

SCOTUS essentially told the judges who drew the map to fuck off, get it now, dummy?

After the state court told the TX GOP to fuck off. Get it now, you brain-dead moron?

no I will not fuck you, stop asking.

 

[J.E.D]

SCOTUS essentially told the judges who drew the map to fuck off, get it now, dummy?

After the state court told the TX GOP to fuck off. Get it now, you brain-dead moron?

no I will not fuck you, stop asking.

BrilloTwat, I wouldn't fuck you if your dried out, cavernous gash was the last used up hole on earth.

 

[J.E.D]

Here you go, Conservative. I know you're thinking about it.