U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Tuesday that the Department of Justice is suing the state of Texas for violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by illegally gerrymandering the state's political districts. This is the second lawsuit filed by the DOJ in the last two months against Texas, alleging racial discrimination in new voting laws and policies. The new lawsuit accuses Texas of racial gerrymandering for redrawing congressional district lines in ways that benefit white, mostly republican voters while diluting the voting power of Latino and Black voters. The lawsuit comes as Texas, like many other states, is in the process of redrawing its congressional district lines in response to the population data gathered from the 2020 U.S. Census. Because of population growth, Texas gained two new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Despite the fact that nearly all of the population growth within Texas happened within the state’s Latino, Black and Asian populations,...
