US Supreme Court May Like New Texas Gerrymandering

December 10, 2011

tags: Accountability, Dirty Media, Dirty Politics, disinformation, gerrymandering, Texas Politics

by bosskitty

Horrible for Latino Voters - News Taco

Enough of this crooked “business as usual behavior” by Texas Politicians. Enough free passes by the US Supreme Court. The Texas Constitution MUST be changed to prevent disenfranchising the citizens of this once great state. All these years of crooked Texas politics has flushed the credibility of being a Texan, down the toilet. I tell strangers that I am from Oklahoma or Arkansas … I am ashamed to have Rick Perry defining Texans. Not all of us are comical idiots, together. We are either comical OR idiots. Not both.

WIKI: gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected districts. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander (/ˈ dʒ ɛ r i ˌ m æ n d ə r /); however, that word can also refer to the process.

The two aims of gerrymandering are to maximize the effect of supporters’ votes and to minimize the effect of opponents’ votes.

Gerrymandering may be used to achieve desired electoral results for a particular party, or may be used to help or hinder a particular demographic, such as a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group.

WIKI: The 2003 Texas redistricting refers to a controversial mid-decade congressional redistricting plan appealed to the United States Supreme Court in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry. On June 28, 2006, the Supreme Court upheld the statewide redistricting as Constitutional, but struck down Congressional District 23 as racial gerrymandering in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Redistricting in Texas was traditionally done once every ten years, soon after the National Census.

But this time, Texas Republicans want to stack the deck right before the 2012 Presidential Primary.

2005, the Washington Post reported, “Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo” uncovered by the newspaper.^[10] The document, endorsed by six Justice Department attorneys, said “the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts.”

… Justice Department lawyers “found that Republican lawmakers and state officials who helped craft the proposal were aware it posed a high risk of being ruled discriminatory compared with other options.” Nonetheless, Texas legislators proceeded with the new plan “because it would maximize the number of Republican federal lawmakers in the state,” the Post said about the document.

Texas Republicans Get Emergency Supreme Court Hearing on Election Maps

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an emergency challenge by TexasRepublicans to maps that would govern next year’s state and federal elections, accepting a case that tests the power of judges to redraw voting-district lines. Temporarily blocking a lower court order that put the maps in place, the court said last night it will hear the case on an expedited basis, with arguments on Jan. 9.

Star Telegram

Supreme Court blocks Texas’ use of court-drawn redistricting maps

FORT WORTH, TEXAS – The nation’s highest court late Friday temporarily blocked the interim court-drawn boundaries that form Texas’ legislative and congressional districts for next year’s election.

Texas Primary Likely Delayed as Supreme Court Halts New Texas Electoral Maps

HOUSTON – Texas’ March primary will likely be delayed after the Supreme Court on Friday blocked the use of state legislative and congressional district maps that were drawn by federal judges. The court issued a briehe Mexican-American Legislative Caucus, which participated in the San Antonio lawsuit, said it was “deeply concerned” about the potential disruption of the 2012 election schedule.

Gerrymandered confusion

In the meantime and suspecting that the maps will be declared illegal by the Justice Department panel, a panel of federal judges in San Antonio recently proposed a new, fairer set of maps for use in the now-underway election cycle.

Being fed up with the blatant corruption of politicians in general, is just a way of life, especially in Texas. But, in Texas, wheeler dealers are the laughing stock of the world. They can con businesses around the world all day long, just read your history. But Texans are sick and tired of being conned and disenfranchised by the people they elect. Texans are living the ugly consequences, while the politicians sing a beautiful fairy tale song. Perry can sell his unemployment numbers to anyone but a Texan. He can sell his education and medical care myths to anyone but a Texan. He can sell the Trans-Texas Corridor to anyone else, but Texans really don’t want their land condemned for a project that makes Perry and his Spanish Corporate buddies rich.

Just read the history books … you will never find these sordid facts there. Ooops, in Texas, and several other ultra conservative states, only sanitized history is what the political party wants you to know. Whole generations are educated with half truths and omissions. Our founding fathers would have cringed to see the level of scholarship today’s student demonstrates. Today’s student is not aware of half the workings of this country, and could care less why it is that way. So, why should I give a shit about today’s student education? They are tomorrow’s voters. Today’s voters only have a choice to vote for whoever their parents, colleagues or social group chooses. No one has the time to dig for the lies and insist on accountability and honesty. That’s because main stream media only wants to show the bickering and glitz of politicians … to improve their ratings and please their corporate sponsors. If I had to rely exclusively on network coverage for my information, I would just vote with my herd. I would vote for whoever my boss told me to vote for. I would vote for the sexiest, loudest, most recognizable face on TV. OR, like too many voting aged people, not vote at all. Not voting is the most despicable act, no excuses other than being hospitalized in a coma, is acceptable. We have two-faced, lying sons-a-bitches ruining the American Dream and ruining Texas pride, just because voters are not serious or just don’t care.

Cross posted on BlueBloggin.com