Today, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), along with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the Barbara Jordan Leadership Institute, and the Houston Area Urban League submitted testimony to both the Texas House and Senate Committees on Congressional Redistricting on the mid-decade congressional redistricting that the special session of the 89th Texas Legislature is considering.
The testimony details opposition to the potential mid-decade congressional redistricting for three reasons. First, access to congressional representation for Black voters and other voters of color should not be further weakened with any new line drawing based on contradictory positions that Texas takes on the role that the race of voters played in their development of the 2021 congressional map. Second, the Texas Legislature should not rely on the U.S. Department of Justice’s flawed legal theories to conduct mid-decade congressional redistricting when the Department has produced no factual evidence to support those theories. Third, attempting to complete mid-decade congressional redistricting during the upcoming special legislative session increases the risk of a rushed and non-transparent process and limits meaningful public participation.
For these reasons, LDF urges the Texas Legislature to refrain from conducting mid-decade congressional redistricting under these circumstances. We further urge the Legislature to not line draw in any way that further harms Black Texan voters and other voters of color and risks further damage to those communities.
In anticipation of hearings on congressional redistricting, LDF Senior Counsel Leah Aden issued the following statement:
“Black Texan voters and other voters’ access to our democratic process is on the line here. The Texas Legislature should devote its resources and those of the public to rectifying the harms that Black voters and other voters of color are already experiencing under the currently enacted 2021 congressional electoral map — not work to further harm these communities. The consequences of a new congressional map are far reaching— they impact Texans’ everyday life and ability to petition public officials for increased access to public education, affordable housing, basic health care, employment opportunities, and environmental disaster relief.
“Texas is home to the largest number of Black registered voters among all 50 states. A congressional map can and should reflect that power. If it doesn’t, the courts and the people must ensure that Texas or any other legislature are stopped from denying Black, Brown, and other voters’ access to their preferred representatives by using pretexts like partisanship and race blind line drawing to engage in harmful redistricting.”
Currently, several plaintiff groups representing Black and Brown Texan voters are challenging the 2021 congressional map as racially discriminatory under various constitutional and statutory theories of liability, in a consolidated federal court case, League of United Latin American Citizens v. Abbott. LDF is not counsel in that litigation.
To learn more about LDF’s efforts to protect and empower Black voters in Texas, visit our website here. To access Texas voter information, visit our website here.
To learn more about LDF’s redistricting work, visit our website here.
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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957 — although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
