Justice Dept. Files Voting Rights Suit Against Texas Over New Map
The New York Times
The department said the state’s redistricting plan would violate the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against minority voters.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department sued Texas on Monday over the state’s plan to redraw its voting districts, saying it would essentially make ballots cast by Black and Latino voters count for less than those of others.
In announcing the suit, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said that the redistricting plan that the state’s Republican-led legislature approved in October violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which says that voters cannot be denied equal access to the political process based on their race or ethnicity.
The suit was the second in a little over a month to be filed by the Justice Department challenging Texas over voting. The department sued the state in early November over a new voting law that it argued would disenfranchise Texans who do not speak English, people with disabilities, older voters and those who live outside the United States.
