Dallas Morning News/Tribune News Service: Justice Department sues to block gerrymandered Texas congressional map

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration sued Texas on Monday to block its new congressional map, accusing the state of gerrymandering to shut out nonwhites in violation of federal voting rights law.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the enforcement action at Justice Department headquarters, saying the redistricting plans Texas adopted in recent months “deny or abridge the rights of Latino and Black voters to vote on account of their race, color or membership in a language minority group.”

“Discriminatory redistricting schemes are illegal,” he said.

Texas gained two U.S. House seats after the 2020 census, more than any other state. The GOP-controlled Legislature set aside 14 of the 38 seats for Democrats — a scant 37% in a state where the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump, topped Democrat Joe Biden by less than 6 percentage points. …

Anthony Gutierrez, Texas executive director of Common Cause, said the lawsuit shows the need for Congress to preempt such “racially and partisan gerrymandered maps” by restoring the Justice Department’s authority to put Texas under a microscope on election plans.

“While we are grateful for the involvement of the federal government, what we need to stop the five-decade cycle of having to take legal action every 10 years is for Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act,” he said.