In a suit challenging redistricting in Galveston County, the 5th Circuit said the protections afforded to a racial group don’t apply when there's more than one.
Coalitions of minority groups cannot band together to claim that political maps constitute discriminatory gerrymandering, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a Galveston County lawsuit. The 12-6 decision found that the Voting Rights Act ’s protections for individual racial or ethnic groups do not extend to multiple groups joining together to claim that political boundaries dilute their votes.
The ruling only applies to Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi — the states where the court has jurisdiction. The court wrote that the Voting Rights Act does not explicitly permit coalition, therefore they have no legal standing. “The statutory text points to only one conclusion, that coalition claims are impermissible,” the ruling said. While the majority claims that this “decision will in no way imperil” the success of the Voting Rights Act, six judges remained unsure.
Texas Tribune U.S. Circuit Court Of Appeals Dana M. Douglas Latino Texans Galveston County Texas Louisiana Mississippi Voting Rights Act
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