Court approves GOP-drawn Texas districts

DALLAS — Three federal judges dealt Texas’ dwindling Democrats a serious blow yesterday, ruling that although the recent Republican redistricting plan was “political … from start to finish,” it did not discriminate against minorities.

Democrats and minorities had filed a suit claiming that the Republican-led plan seriously disenfranchised minorities, but the three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the state Legislature was allowed to replace court-drawn districts.

“We are compelled,” the court said in its ruling, “that this plan was a political product from start to finish. The myriad decisions made during its creation were made in spite of, and not because of, its effects on blacks and Latinos.”

It contended that the facts simply did not support Democrat contentions that the plan intentionally discriminated against minorities.

Texas lawmakers and the governor deadlocked over drawing congressional lines after the 2000 Census, so the 2002 elections were conducted under lines drawn by a court. After Republicans gained control of the Legislature and maintained control of the governorship in those elections, the Legislature redrew the lines.

Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, promised to appeal yesterday’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. But for now, it virtually assures that Republicans will maintain their majority in the House after November’s elections.

Although the GOP in Texas grabbed strong control of both Texas legislative houses in 2002 and holds every elective office by statewide balloting, the current makeup of the U.S. House delegation is split 16-16. It had been 17-15 in favor of Democrats until Rep. Ralph M. Hall announced last week that he was switching parties to become a Republican.

After the upcoming elections, Republicans hope that as many as 22 of those 32 seats will be filled by Republicans — one of the biggest such switches in history.

The judges — 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Patrick Higginbotham, U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal of Houston, and U.S. District Judge John Ward of San Antonio — had heard testimony for several days last month in the civil suit.

“This is a serious blow to the Democrats,” said National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Thomas M. Reynolds, New York Republican and the man charged with electing Republicans to the House. “It makes their already remote chances of taking back the House slimmer than ever.”

Republicans long have argued that a state as Republican and conservative as Texas wasn’t being served properly by a congressional delegation with a majority of Democrats. They blamed the 1990 map, engineered by Rep. Martin Frost, Texas Democrat, for prolonging Democratic dominance.

Yesterday, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican who was instrumental in brokering the final map, said that will change now.

“The Democrats did everything in their power to try to deny the reality that Texas is a Republican state. The Frost gerrymander of the early ’90s is finally over,” Mr. DeLay said.

The plaintiffs in this case were appalled at the decision — particularly Mr. Frost, the dean of the Texas congressional delegation, whose district was carved up so badly the 16-year House veteran probably cannot win re-election this year.

“By judicial fiat,” said Mr. Frost, “a three-judge federal panel has effectively repealed the Voting Rights Act and turned back the clock on nearly 40 years of progress for minority voters.”

Democrats said the ruling was more evidence of Republicans’ assault on minority rights in America and said the court has set a precedent that can be used in other states to disenfranchise minorities for political reasons.

“The Texas redistricting plan shows once again that when Republicans cannot win elections fair and square, they rig the rules,” Mrs. Pelosi said. “That is a disservice to Texans and all Americans who value our democracy.”

Judges Higginbotham and Rosenthal, both nominated by Republican presidents, urged Congress to pass laws prohibiting states from redistricting more often than every decade.

In a separate opinion, Judge Ward — nominated by a Democratic president — stated that although he concurred with some of the redistricting efforts, the redrawing of one San Antonio district, No. 23, now held by Rep. Henry Bonilla, Texas Republican, violated the rights of Hispanic voters.

“The majority errs,” Judge Ward wrote, “when it holds that the state may permissibly ’trade off’ the rights of minority voters in former District 23 for those in new District 25, a district created to assist the state with its [U.S. Justice Department] pre-clearance efforts.”

The two majority judges urged the Supreme Court to give lower courts more guidance in how to deal with “excessive partisan line drawing.”

“We decide only the legality of the plan … not its wisdom,” said the majority judges, adding, “Whether the Texas Legislature has acted in the best interest of Texas is a judgment that belongs to the people who elected the officials whose act is challenged in this case.”

Texas’ plan only passed last year after state Republican lawmakers outlasted their Democratic counterparts, who twice fled the state to deprive the Legislature of a quorum.

It was not the only state to redraw its congressional lines to replace a court-ordered map. In Colorado, Republicans gained control of the legislature in 2002 and drew a new congressional map to replace the map imposed by a court. That legislature’s map tweaked some districts to make them more Republican-friendly.

But the Colorado Supreme Court in December overturned the new plan, ruling that the state’s constitution only allows new lines to be drawn once a decade.

• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.