Civil rights groups sue in Texas over redrawn House district maps

Texas civil rights groups on Monday filed a federal lawsuit over the state’s newly redrawn U.S. House districts, alleging that they were designed to dilute the voting power of minorities.

The suit, filed my multiple minority rights groups, accuses Republican lawmakers of diluting the political power of  Latinos in particular, according to The Associated Press.

Nina Perales, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund said in a statement to the AP, “Texas is using all the means at its disposal to prevent the inevitable change in the Texas electorate.”

Texas was the only state to get two new districts following the 2020 census. The proposed new districts would be placed in the Houston and Austin areas. The new map would effectively cement the advantage Republicans have in Texas for the next decade, allowing the GOP to widen the number of districts it holds over the Democratic Party.

The AP noted that this is far from the first time Texas has been taken to court over voting maps. In 2017, a federal court found that a Republican-drawn map had purposely discriminated against minority voters.

However, the court found two years later that there was insufficient reason to warrant Texas being placed under federal supervision when redrawing maps.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is expected to sign off on the newly drawn map on Tuesday.