Link: In its redistricting litigation, Texas filed a motion for partial summary judgment, asserting:
- Claims alleging discrimination under the 14th and 15th Amendments fail because the evidence presented by the plaintiffs does not show discriminatory intent – as opposed to just a disparate impact.
- The evidence presented by the plaintiffs “shows conclusively that the dispersal of population across the State makes it impossible to draw additional congressional districts consisting of a majority of Latino or African-American voters [and] … plaintiffs attempts to draw alternative districts dilute protected voting groups in existing districts, violate the Fourteenth Amendment, and violate traditional redistricting principles.” The state contends that, in evaluating any such claims, the panel must look at citizen voting age population rather than merely voting age population. [Note: The state at this time has not sought summary judgment on claims that additional minority majority state house seats could be drawn.]
- MALC and LULAC fail to support their claims about an alleged 4-8% census undercount of Hispanics with the required clear and convincing evidence