Redistricting case goes before the Supreme Court

Paper: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)

Date: March 1, 2006

WASHINGTON — Ealy Boyd, 71, of Forest Hill considers today's two-hour Supreme Court hearing on Texas redistricting "our day in court, finally" for the African-American community in southeast Fort Worth.

"You just feel like you're lost," Boyd said of the 2003 congressional lines that split the 24th congressional district five ways and spelled the political demise of U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, D-Dallas.

The splitting of the African-American voters in Fort Worth — potentially a violation of the Voting Rights Act — is one of the central issues in the case. Boyd, now in Rep. Michael Burgess' district, said the Flower Mound Republican's "politics and mine are different."

At stake could be the make-up of the U.S. House and even the Republican Party's majority control. The Democrats are looking for the Supreme Court to throw out the current map and install the 2002 map, which gives Democrats an advantage in as many as four congressional races.

The district's 22.7 percent African-American population, combined with the 40 percent Hispanic population, effectively made the congressional district a majority minority district. African-Americans dominated in the polls, Democrats argued.

"Whoever the black community wanted, got the nomination," said Frost, a 26-year House veteran before being defeated in 2004. "It happened that I was white, but presumably when I retired, I would be replaced by an African-American."

And the dilution of that vote violates the Voting Rights Act, Democrats say. That view was bolstered by the conclusion of Justice Department staff members, who were overruled by political appointees but whose memo was leaked just as the Supreme Court was considering whether to take the case.

The court's decision to proceed heartened Democrats, who noted the unusual schedule of two hours for arguments instead of one hour, and the March 1 date, which would mean a decision in June or early July — in time for new elections.

Frost, now a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, lost in a challenge to Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas.

Republicans counter that the 2003 redistricting plan, devised after the GOP took control of the Texas House and Senate, reconfigured a map drawn by a three-judge panel after the 2000 Census to better reflect Texas' status as a GOP state.

Texas elected 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans to Congress in 2002 and 11 Democrats and 21 Republicans in 2004. Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall switched to the GOP early in 2004.

And the 2004 map ultimately elected one more African-American member from Texas, muting Frost's argument about the loss of African-American influence, Republicans say.

"I put my heart and soul into representing that part of my district," Burgess said. "The area was represented by a white Democrat before and now it's represented by a white Republican. I don't see the difference."

The change in District 24 "is not a Voting Rights Act violation unless it means protecting white Democrats," said Mark Braden, a GOP redistricting expert. "There are not enough black Americans in that district to elect a black. They are not the deciding factor. Instead of protecting minorities, you're protecting white Democrats."

The judges will also consider two other issues in the redistricting case: political gerrymandering, or designing a district solely for partisan purposes, and middecade redistricting instead of the traditional once-a-decade changes.

Maria Recio (202) 383-6103 mrecio@krwashington.com

Author: MARIA RECIO

Section: News

Page: A8