Latest news with #MarinaJenkins
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal trial opens to determine whether Texas discriminated in redrawn redistricting maps
Do Texas' district maps discriminate against some Black and Latino voters? That's what advocates will allege in court Wednesday, while the state will argue that those communities can elect the candidates they want. Some advocates will also argue in a set of cases four years in the making that the state intentionally discriminated — while the state will combat that claim. A panel of three U.S. district judges in El Paso will hear the cases over the next month that allege the state violated federal law in its redistricting process — the once-a-decade redrawing of congressional and state district maps after every U.S. Census to ensure that all districts have approximately the same number of people. The plaintiffs include the League of United Latin American Citizens, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Texas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. They plan to argue that in 2021, the Republican-majority Legislature deliberately drew its congressional, state House and senate districts in a way that split up voters of color and diluted their political power. The case has been delayed while the parties fought over what information legislative members are required to disclose. Plaintiffs point to data around the racial makeup of the state and those of the districts in their arguments: though whites and Latinos made up nearly the same share of the population in Texas in 2020, the state drew 23 white-majority districts out of 38 total congressional districts, while Latino voters made up majorities in only seven. The remaining eight districts had no majority group. According to the 2020 Census, Texas added 4 million residents in the prior decade and gained two congressional districts. Of the population growth, 95% was among communities of color, with more than half of the growth among the Latino community. 'The inflated number of majority-white districts does not reflect the Census data and does not allow for fair representation,' Marina Jenkins, executive director of the National Redistricting Foundation, an advocacy group supporting the plaintiffs in the congressional case, said at a news conference this week. 'It is clear that Texas' congressional map denies Latino voters an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect candidates of their choice, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.'' If a court finds that to be true, it wouldn't be the first time: in every decade since the Voting Rights Act was enacted in 1965, Texas has been found by a federal court to have violated federal law by illegally discriminating against voters of color. The law prohibits voting practices that discriminate based on race, color or those who belong to a language minority group. After the 2010 redistricting cycle, for example – in a battle with similar arguments — federal judges ruled that Texas lawmakers intentionally discriminated against Hispanic and Black voters by unnecessarily crowding them into certain districts. The allegations that the state violated the Voting Rights Act don't require the plaintiffs to prove the state intended to discriminate — only that the effect of the maps does so. Some of the plaintiffs are bringing additional claims that the state violated the 14th Amendment by intentionally discriminating against them, which does require proving the state acted in bad faith. Various groups have sued the state since 2021, even before the maps were ratified. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, El Paso Division ordered those groups to consolidate their cases into the one that begins Wednesday. The groups allege the state could have drawn a Latino-majority district in the state senate and congressional districts that encompass Dallas-Fort Worth and Harris counties, but failed to do so. In the House maps, plaintiffs allege the Legislature failed to create Latino-majority districts where there was opportunity to do so in those counties, as well in Central and West Texas, and Bexar, Denton/Wise and Brazoria counties. The NAACP also alleges the state intentionally discriminated against Black voters in all three maps. The state plans to defend the maps on the basis that partisan interests, not race, were the primary factor in drawing the maps. 'The Texas Legislature drew the maps blind to race,' the state's pre-trial brief says. 'The redistricting lawmakers did not mince words: they intended to design maps that advanced partisan interests and other traditional redistricting principles.' The Republican-led Legislature drew the maps, while the advocates who brought the lawsuits are arguing on behalf of Black and Latino voters who historically have aligned with the Democratic party. The state's brief says the legislative record will show both Republican and Democratic lawmakers acknowledged the Legislature's 'partisan motivations for drawing districts' — although in pre-trial proceedings leading up to Wednesday, the Legislature's chief map drawer, Houston Republican Sen. Joan Huffman, declined to share some of the reasoning behind the maps, citing 'legislative privilege,' a protection afforded by the state constitution. The state also plans to argue that population growth was uneven, and that in some areas, such as El Paso County, declining population led to the reduction in the number of House districts where there was a Latino majority. The governor's office and attorney general's office did not respond to requests for comments on the case. Though the Legislature passed the bills creating the maps in 2021, lawmakers that session were unable to ratify the maps due to a Democratic walkout over a separate bill related to election processes. The next Legislature in 2023 then ratified the maps. In the meantime, two primary and two general elections have taken place under those maps. That includes the primary election in 2022, after the Court sided with the state on allowing the map for Senate District 10 to be used. Plaintiffs tried to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, but they dismissed the appeal because it was filed too late. For Jenkins, with the National Redistricting Foundation, the impacts of a map that potentially violates the law means less of a voice for some Texans. 'The long-term effects of depriving a community of a seat at the table can be seen in disparities in multiple aspects of life, such as higher poverty and unemployment rates, lower incomes and being underrepresented in public office,' she said at the briefing. 'This case isn't just about the congressional map, it's about representation and living up to the fundamental ideal that should guide our democracy, that every individual has the right to exercise self determination at the ballot box.' First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Long simmering dispute over Georgia political maps drawn after 2020 Census returns to federal court
Sen. John Kennedy, who chaired the Senate Redistricting Committee, argued during a 2021 special session that the GOP-drawn maps are fair to all Georgians. In 2023, state lawmakers were directed by a federal judge to draw new maps. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder We've passed the halfway point between the 2020 U.S. Census and the 2030 U.S. Census, but the battle over redistricting maps based on the last national headcount is still underway in Georgia. On Thursday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments about whether or not to enact new maps. The dispute stems from a claim that the state Legislature drew up maps that violate the Voting Rights Act and dilute the votes of Black Georgians. In late 2023, the district court struck down those Congressional and legislative maps, and lawmakers returned to the Capitol for another stab at them. Marina Jenkins, executive director of the National Redistricting Foundation and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said Georgia's population growth in the 2020 Census came from minority populations, especially Black Georgians, but she said the General Assembly's maps didn't reflect that and that lawmakers engaged in dirty tricks by eliminating majority-minority districts to draw new ones. 'The state of Georgia robbed Peter in order to pay Paul by enacting these maps,' she said. 'These maps eliminated existing opportunity districts in order to draw so-called new opportunity districts, zeroing out black opportunity statewide. Black Georgia voters who were previously denied their right to equal representation continue to be denied that right, and others had that right revoked altogether on these new maps.' Much of the debate over the maps came down to the state's 7th Congressional District, previously represented by Democratic Congresswoman Lucy McBath, which was redrawn to favor a Republican. Republican Rich McCormick now represents the 7th District, while McBath was elected to the 6th District after defeating fellow incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Bourdeaux. The old 7th's population was not majority Black – the plurality of the population was white, but a combination of minority groups made up the majority. Of the district's voting age population 27% were Black, 21% Hispanic, 15% Asian and about 33% white. In a court document filed last year, attorneys for Georgia argued that the state was obligated to protect majority Black districts, not districts where a coalition of minorities make up the majority, and that efforts to overturn the maps are political sour grapes. 'Their argument proves only one thing: Plaintiffs are upset that the General Assembly eliminated a safe congressional district for Democrats when it created the required new majority-Black district. But the Voting Rights Act 'is a balm for racial minorities, not political ones.' It cannot be hijacked to settle partisan disputes that are fairly decided at the polls,' the state's attorneys wrote. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Boston Globe
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Louisiana vs. the ‘non-African Americans'
But as Marina Jenkins, executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, pointed out, it's the old legal racial switcheroo. And history is rhyming. 'The argument put forth by the plaintiffs seeking the requirement of race blindness, even in the course of remedying racial vote dilution, is not new,' Jenkins said Wednesday, previewing the March 24 argument to members of the press. 'It dates back to the civil rights movement, when opponents of voting rights protections for minority groups used the same argument to oppose addressing racial discrimination. The irony and hypocrisy is hard to miss.' The National Democratic Redistricting Committee was among the groups that Advertisement Meanwhile, the Supreme Court issued a ruling rejecting a similarly racially rigged map in Alabama. So rather than fight, Louisiana lawmakers decided to go back to the map-drawing board and try to comply with the justices' ruling. Lawmakers drafted and the governor approved a new map that included But then the state was sued by the 'non-African American' group, which said that the new map was forbidden because state officials drafted it primarily on the basis of race. Yes: They argued that the state violated the law by complying with a ruling that said you can't racially discriminate against Black people. Advertisement Now Louisiana officials are crying uncle, saying they will be damned with Black voter dilution lawsuits if they throw out the new map and damned with racial discrimination lawsuits from non-Afrian American voters if they don't. They asked the Supreme Court to sort it all out instead. Here's the bad news for democracy lovers: The Supreme Court has, for more than a decade, become increasingly critical of the racial components of the Voting Rights Act itself. In 2013, So the non-African Americans must be feeling pretty bullish. They'll make their case to the justices later this month. I'll let you know how it goes.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Legal battle underway to secure Alabama's current congressional districts
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — A legal battle over Alabama's congressional districts begins Monday at Hugo Black Federal Courthouse in Birmingham. If the map changes again, there could be statewide implications. Former Mobile County Commissioner Stephen Nodine cleared to run for mayor On Friday, a coalition of local community groups in Mobile came together at Government Plaza to discuss the appropriate representation leading into next week's trial. In court next week, the National Redistricting Foundation will fight to ensure the current district map remains in place for the rest of the decade. 'Both the U.S. Supreme Court and the district court have already agreed that a textbook application of Section 2 requires a map with two Black opportunity districts in Alabama,' NRF Executive Director Marina Jenkins said. This includes the new District 2, which includes both Mobile and Montgomery. Escambia County deputies searching for stolen vehicle suspect after chase The new District 2 map was drawn by the federal court in 2023 and was recently won by Democrat Shomari Figures in November 2024. 'This case isn't just about a congressional map,' Jenkins said. 'It's about representation and living up to the fundamental ideal that should guide our Democracy.' 'That every individual has the right to exercise self-determination at the ballot box,' she continued. This led some Republicans to change their mind and want the map lines to be drawn again. Jamaican nationals arrested in Baldwin County face federal charges in lottery scam Stand Up Mobile co-founder Beverly Cooper told that it is important that all Alabamians are represented in Congress. 'I believe that not just African Americans,' Cooper said. 'But people in the state of Alabama and around the country are concerned about what do we have when we look at our American democracy.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
