2nd challenge filed against new congressional districts

Martin Wisckol
The Orange County Register
September 30, 2011

A group claiming that the newly drawn congressional districts illegally dilute minority votes – including the Asian vote in and around Little Saigon – filed a petition Thursday with the state Supreme Court to overturn the new districts.

An Orange County-based group of Republicans previously filing a petition claiming that the new lines unfairly favor Democrats.

Both petitions seek to have the high court intervene and appoint a special master to redraw the lines. And while each of the petitions express different grievances, one of the two lawyers listed in the minority-based challenge is Irvine's Steve Baric, vice chairman of the California Republican Party. Among the five plaintiffs in that suit is former GOP Rep. George Radanovich.

If the Supreme Court rejects the Republican challenge but affirms the minority petition, the result could still provide a set of boundaries that could be expected to benefit the GOP. And it could have the same immediate effect of restoring the old boundaries for the 2012 congressional elections.

The petition filed Thursday claims the Citizens Redistricting Commission intentionally diluted the number of African American voters in each of three Los Angeles congressional districts to protect the three incumbents and, in doing so, violated the Voting Rights Act.

It also alleges that the commission denied the Latino community of one or possibly two additional Latino majority-minority districts in Los Angeles County and split Asians in Orange County and Los Angeles County into two districts when consolidating them into a single district could have allowed them to elect their own representative.