Supreme Court upholds most Texas election districts over charges of racial discrimination

WASHINGTON -- A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that Texas did not draw most congressional and state legislative election districts based on racial demographics.

The 5-4 ruling by the court's conservative justices said only one state House district was designed by using race impermissibly. It upheld the Republican-controlled state legislature's maps, based largely on a federal court's 2013 requirement, for all others.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the decision, asserting that "the good faith of the legislature must be presumed."

"It was the challengers' burden to show that the 2013 legislature acted with discriminatory intent when it enacted plans that the court itself had produced," Alito said.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by the court's other three liberal justices.

"After years of litigation and undeniable proof of intentional discrimination, minority voters in Texas -- despite constituting a majority of the population within the state -- will continue to be underrepresented in the political process," Sotomayor said.

The court already had punted on two more significant cases this month that challenged the way legislatures in Wisconsin and Maryland drew districts for partisan gain. Then on Monday, the justices sent a similar North Carolina challenge back to a federal district court for further review.

The Texas case involved more traditional challenges to the use of race in drawing district lines, something the high court deals with perennially from states with a history of violating the 1968 Voting Rights Act.

The dispute dates back to 2011, when the GOP-dominated legislature created new congressional and state legislative districts to help Republicans, even though the growth in the state's population was almost entirely attributable to minorities who more often vote Democratic.

A three-judge district court panel ruled last year that some national and state districts were drawn to discriminate against blacks and Hispanics. Texas asked the Supreme Court to overrule the racial verdict.

Voting rights proponents said the ruling was a disappointment because minorities have fueled the state's population growth but have not won increased political clouty.

“This decision represents a severe blow to voting rights in Texas," said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas.

WPXI