Hours after the Texas Senate approved a new congressional map early Saturday morning that more heavily favors Republicans — legislation Gov. Greg Abbott plans to “swiftly” sign into law — a lawsuit against the governor was filed, alleging that the redrawn districts are racially discriminatory.
The 67-page complaint against Abbott and Secretary of State Jane Nelson supplements legal action filed by LULAC in 2021 challenging the state’s original maps and argues that redrawing districts mid-decade is unconstitutional.
Redistricting usually happens at the start of the decade after U.S. census data comes out. The complaint argues that because the new map was drawn based on the same data used for the initial map passed by the Legislature in 2021, the measure was a violation of the U.S. Constit