Texas State Representative Sues Over New Congressional Map
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, another lawsuit was filed challenging Texas’ new congressional map. Texas House Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D) filed the lawsuit against the map for allegedly diluting minority voting strength. This suit brings the total of federal lawsuits against Texas’ new legislative and congressional maps to eight, after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a similar lawsuit last week. A ninth lawsuit was filed in state court against state House districts.
The complaint alleges that Texas’ new congressional map violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because it dilutes minority voting strength, specifically that of Latino voters, across the state. The lawsuit focuses on the 35th District, which the plaintiff argues was reconfigured in order to decrease the district’s Latino voting population. The complaint alleges that the new map “does not afford the plaintiff and other Latino voters in central Texas an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.” The lawsuit also asserts that the new congressional map violates the 14th Amendment because it “disfranchises minority voters and discriminate[s] against plaintiffs on the basis race and national origin.” The complaint asks the court to block the use of the map in future elections.