News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

U.S. Supreme Court Hears Texas Redistricting Cases

Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments today in a consolidated case challenging Texas' House maps and congressional districts. Both sets of maps were struck down by federal courts last year after judges ruled they intentionally discriminated against black and Latino voters.

Justices are hearing several cases grappling with the issue of “ partisan gerrymandering” – that’s when lawmakers draw lines that favor one political party over another. Abbott v. Perez, however, will answer the question of whether Texas violated the Voting Rights Act and other protections that prohibit states from writing laws that hurt minority voters. KUT's Nadia Hamdan talks with Ashley Lopez about the case before the Supreme Court

State GOP leaders argue the maps were drawn to favor Republicans, which is legal, not to disenfranchise minorities. 

Responding to an appeal by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in August, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito  temporarily blocked a lower court's rulingthat would have required the state to redraw the districts ahead of the 2018 elections. Because of this action, the high court's ruling will likely not affect this year’s elections. Texas held its primary elections in April.

If the Supreme Court finds the state intentionally hurt minority voters when it drew up political boundaries in 2011, it has the option of putting the state under pre-clearance, meaning it will have to clear all future voting laws with the federal government.

Copyright 2020 KUT 90.5. To see more, visit KUT 90.5.

Ashley Lopez is a reporter forWGCUNews. A native of Miami, she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a journalism degree.
Ashley Lopez joined KUT in January 2016. She covers politics and health care, and is part of the NPR-Kaiser Health News reporting collaborative. Previously she worked as a reporter at public radio stations in Louisville, Ky.; Miami and Fort Myers, Fla., where she won a National Edward R. Murrow Award.