Hol
Well-known
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon says the Texas redistricting drama that prompted Democrats to flee the state began after a letter was sent from the U.S. Justice Department warning the state's electoral maps were illegal.
"We took a look at Texas, and we found that four of their districts in Texas are comprised of these so-called coalition districts," Dhillon said Tuesday on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "In other words, to get to a special minority district, you have to add together multiple minorities or count on a certain percentage of a crossover white vote. And this is too complex, too weird and too inconsistent with equal protection.
"So we wrote to Texas, telling them that even though that law had been struck down a couple of years ago, their districts were now not in compliance with the Federal Voting Rights laws, and so they needed to take action to fix them," she added. "That is what triggered the Texas Legislature and the Texas governor to call the legislature into session to put new maps together."
justthenews.com
"We took a look at Texas, and we found that four of their districts in Texas are comprised of these so-called coalition districts," Dhillon said Tuesday on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "In other words, to get to a special minority district, you have to add together multiple minorities or count on a certain percentage of a crossover white vote. And this is too complex, too weird and too inconsistent with equal protection.
"So we wrote to Texas, telling them that even though that law had been struck down a couple of years ago, their districts were now not in compliance with the Federal Voting Rights laws, and so they needed to take action to fix them," she added. "That is what triggered the Texas Legislature and the Texas governor to call the legislature into session to put new maps together."
DOJ civil rights chief says Texas redistricting drama prompted by legal warning, not gerrymandering
Texas Democrats have fled the state in a bid to deny Republicans a quorum and thereby prevent a redistricting effort expected to favor Republicans.
justthenews.com
