Supremes Uphold Most of Texas Redistricting

The Dems hoped to gain back some seats in Texas by challenging Tom DeLay's redistricting plan which changed several Dem districts to GOP districts, and tossed some long time Dem congressmen out. The Dem plan largely failed:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld most of a bitterly contested Texas congressional map engineered by then-Rep. Tom DeLay to help solidify Republican control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Although the justices refused to overturn the entire map, they ruled that one district in southwestern Texas violated the federal voting rights law.

The Supreme Court's decision upholding most of the redistricting plan could make it harder for Democrats to win control of the 435-seat House in the November elections.

In the lead opinion for the court, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, "We reject the statewide challenge to Texas' redistricting as an unconstitutional political gerrymander and the challenge to the redistricting in the Dallas area as a violation of the Voting Rights Act."

The redistricting plan had been challenged by Democrats, minority groups and others who argued the 2003 plan had been motivated by unconstitutional political purposes.

The gerrymandering process is still a mess, but the court allowed gerrymandering for political purposes provided it doesn't violate the Voting Rights Act which supposedly guarantees minorities a certain amount of representation. However, of course, if you're a white guy living in a predominantely Hispanic district, you don't have the same rights to the representative of your choice.