Texas redistricting: Supreme Court rejects judge drawn electoral maps

The Supreme Court unanimously rejected electoral maps for Texas that were drawn by federal judges on Friday, according to The Associated Press. The maps drawn by the federal judges favored minorities whereas another set of maps created by the Texas Legislature would have favored Republicans.

The Supreme Court set aside interim maps drawn by judges in San Antonio that would have favored Latinos and African-Americans, according to Reuters. The disputed maps could decide whether Republicans or Democrats gain as many as four seats in the House of Representatives in the November elections.

The controversy over redistricting came about because of the 2010 census which revealed that Texas had added 4 million people to its population since 2000, mostly minorities, thereby increasing how many seats it was apportioned. Latino groups protested that the legislature drawn electoral maps diluted their voting power, according to The Washington Post.

Republicans from Texas appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the federal district judges redrawing the maps should have deferred to the maps drawn by the Texas Legislature.

The New York Times reported that the Supreme Court decision said, "the lower court had not paid enough deference to the Legislature’s choices and had improperly substituted its own values for those of elected officials."

The unsigned decision directed any further redrawing of electoral maps to "take guidance from the state’s recently enacted plan in drafting an interim plan. That plan reflects the state’s policy judgments on where to place new districts and how to shift existing ones in response to massive population growth."

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