Latinos Win, Lose in Texas Redistricting Battle

Published February 06, 2012

Temporary voting maps have been approved in Texas, where a heated restricting battle reached all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Texas attorney general agreed to maps that would add two new congressional seats in Latino-dominated districts, though some minority groups are still not happy with the plan. Some groups claim that while it adds some Latino districts, it dilutes others.

The proposal marks a rare moment of agreement in a bitter legal clash that has dragged on since last summer. Minority groups filed a lawsuit alleging the GOP-controlled Legislature drafted redistricting maps that were discriminatory and ignored a burgeoning Hispanic population.

A San Antonio federal court had given both sides until Monday to reach a compromise, or see the Texas primaries pushed back for a second time — a move that Republicans feared could leave Texas voters out of deciding which GOP presidential candidate challenges President Barack Obama in November. Primary elections are now set for April 3.

Attorney General Greg Abbott said seven minority groups agreed to the new plan, which would give Hispanics control of two of the four new congressional seats Texas earned thanks to its population spike in the 2010 census. Abbot said the plan also minimizes changes to the Legislature's original redistricting maps.

"Today's maps should allow the court to finalize the interim redistricting maps in time to have elections in April," Abbott said in a statement.

But some of the groups suing the state said the deal was no compromise. The Mexican American Legislative Caucus argued that the new plan, which redraws boundaries for both congressional and state legislative districts, actually dilutes minority influence in some areas. Its chairman, Democratic state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, said the two Hispanic congressional seats would come on the condition of losing ground in other districts currently dominated by Hispanic voters.

"If you tell me we're going to get these seats at the expense of another district, that's not a win," he said.

Luis Vera, a lawyer for the League of United Latin American Citizens, predicted the court wouldn't accept the deal, saying: "It means absolutely nothing." He noted the separate case challenging the maps' legality was pending in Washington. Since Texas is one of nine states with a history of racial discrimination, the federal court in Washington or the U.S. Department of Justice must pre-approve any changes to state election laws. A ruling in that case isn't expected for at least another month.

It wasn't immediately clear when the three-judge panel in San Antonio would accept or reject Abbot's proposal.

Rolando Rios, an attorney for Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, who also was part of the lawsuit, told The Associated Press that he was optimistic the other plaintiffs could support the compromise.

"This would be historic if we could get it," Rios said, referring to the two new Hispanic-controlled congressional districts.

The fight over new voting maps in Texas is being driven by new census numbers that show a burgeoning Hispanic population in Texas. The stakes are unusually high because the nation's second-largest state is adding four congressional seats — and the way they are divvyed up could be pivotal in determining which party controls the U.S. House.

The Texas Legislature got the first crack at drawing new maps for Congress and the Statehouse, but their plan was quickly challenged by Cuellar and minority groups.

If the court rejects the compromise, the judges could split the primaries into two elections — one for the presidential race, and a later one for state and congressional elections that are at the mercy of where map lines are settled.

A split primary would let parties hold their conventions on schedule — but could cost taxpayers $15 million.

Republican legislative leaders argued that they drew the original maps merely to benefit their party's candidates, but minority groups claim they discriminate by diluting minority voting power. All states must redraw political districts following the census every 10 years to adjust for population changes.

Based on reporting by The Associated Press.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/02/06/latinos-win-lose-in-texas-redistricting-battle/

What do Mexicans have to do with anything "Latino"?

Most are of Native American ancestry.

They are latino because:

1. They speak spanish
2. They are Catholic
3. Many if not most of them are Mestizos not pure natives of the Americas.

The reasons above also include you cubanito!

So religion and a language a ethnic groups makes? A Jamaican and a Brit are the same?


First they used the term "Hispanic" to marginalize others now they use "Latino". Fight them or else you will be classified along with Mexicans and lose your voice.

The overwhelming number of Mexicans I know consider themselves hispanics and Dominicans, Brasilians, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Panamians, Colombians "latinos". So the thread should read "Hispanics (ie Mexicans) Win, Lose in Texas Redistricting Battle. I think you know
that as well. Mexicans can care less about any Dominican born, most of them, if not all Mexicans
consider the groups listed above as "Black" anyway and not full blooded hispanics.

that's like some whites saying eastern europeans aren't really white or jews aren't or turks aren't european. it's like some native americans saying certain tribes aren't native because blacks married in, but others are though whites married in. it's like blacks saying that past a certain lightness of skin you're no longer black etc. all latin american nations have native blood, does that make those that have that ancestry less latino? idk. sounds suspect.

You seem to confuse what I said, Im in total agreement with you in many respects. The examples you are giving do not support what you are saying, for example blacks never say that "past a certain lightness of skin you're no longer black" instead they say "one drop of black blood makes you black regardless of your actually skin color". and the Latin nations who have native blood have never been said to be less latino because they have "black blood", instead Mexicans consider themselves Hispanics, not Latinos.

Why? because they reason that very few if any of them actually have any mixture of African blood in them, instead they are a full mix of native Indian and European Spanish, which some say makes them Hispanic not latino, which they say is those with some African, European Spanish or Portuguese and Indio mix in them. ( ie... Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Panamians, Colombians, Brasilians ect)

Brasilenos4ever!!!!!!!