Bush Admin Fingerprints Showing on Texas Re-Redistricting

Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal

Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan.

The memo, unanimously endorsed by six lawyers and two analysts in the department's voting section, said the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts. It also said the plan eliminated several other districts in which minorities had a substantial, though not necessarily decisive, influence in elections.

"The State of Texas has not met its burden in showing that the proposed congressional redistricting plan does not have a discriminatory effect," the memo concluded.

The memo also 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.

The fingerprints of the Bush Administration are now showing on the redistricting boondoggle. A Justice Dep't. approval over the unanimous disapproval of the working staff of the Justice voting division leads to an easier court case:

Hebert said the Justice Department's approval of the redistricting plan, signed by Sheldon T. Bradshaw, principal deputy assistant attorney general, was valuable to Texas officials when they defended it in court. He called the internal Justice Department memo, which did not come out during the court case, "yet another indictment of Tom DeLay, because this memo shows conclusively that the map he produced violated the law."

This must be the GOP version of accountability. Close your eyes and declare a plan valid even though it violates the law of the land, tell a judge that the plan has Justice Department clearance. And nevermind that as Texas population growth continues to be driven primarily by growth in the Hispanic population, but the representation of minorities in Texas district goes from 11 of 30 to 11 of 32?

That plank that our Republican friends are standing on sure is getting more and more shaky.