Texas Redistricting Unconstitutional

The Washington Post reports that the experts at the Justice Department ruled unanimously that the Texas redistricting plan pushed by Delay and Co. was unconstitutional, but they were overruled by the Republican politicos at the top. As Al Franken pointed out today, that redistricting plan added five Republican seats to the Texas delegation to Congress, exactly equal to the total net gain the Republicans picked up in the 2004 elections. That gain was the principal basis for Bush's claim that he had been given an overwhelming mandate in 2004. Here are the key graphs from the Post article.

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.