Aug
30
Written by:
William Lutz
8/30/2011 10:53 AM
Initially, neither Texas nor Arizona were covered jurisdictions, subject to Section 5 pre-clearance under the federal Voting Rights Act. Section 5 requires a small group of states -- mostly in the South -- to obtain pre-clearance from a federal court or from the U.S. Department of Justice before implementing any change to voting practices or procedures, including a redistricting map. Texas and Arizona were declared covered by Section 5 in 1975, in response to changes in federal law designed to cover linguistic minorities, such as native Spanish-speakers, to the act.
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne filed suit against the federal government Aug. 25, stating that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. The facts as applied to Arizona are almost identical to the Texas situation. So a ruling in favor of Arizona would likely affect Texas as well. Because the U.S. Department of Justice plays a role in redistricting, many Republicans are suspicious that the Obama administration will deny preclearnce to any map that favors Republicans. This has added to the level of controversy surrounding Section 5. Click here to read the Arizona Republic's article on Horne's lawsuit.
Texas has filed applications -- both with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department -- for Section 5 preclearance on all four (Congress, Texas House, Texas Senate, and State Board of Education) redistricting maps passed by lawmakers in 2011.