National Journal has this interview with Arturo Vargas, the head of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials:

Hotline: This is the first time since the Voting Rights Act was put in place that there will be a Democratic Justice Department in place during redistricting. How differently do you think the Obama Justice Department will handling this than George W. Bush‘s Justice Department did?

AV: I’ve had meetings already with Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez and the attorney general. They’ve been very clear to us that they intend to be very vigilant and very active in this redistricting process. However, this is the same Justice Department that approved the Georgia Voter ID law, which we thought was really problematic. So the track record isn’t necessarily there, but the rhetoric is.

Another example why states should go directly to United States District Court in DC to have their legislative plans approved.  There should not be a “volume dial” on Section 5 reviews inside the Justice Department.  There should be one setting – follow the law.  There should not be a dial that can be cranked up to a “vigilant and very active” setting.  The Section 5 process should not be politicized.  States could avoid all of the risk by going though the faster, fairer and more transparent preclearance process in USDC in DC.