Lawsuit seeks to curb redistricting in Texas

Austin — Two Democratic state senators filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging plans by Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican legislative leaders to update the state’s political maps in a special session this year.

The two senators argue that the Texas constitution stipulates that this must be done in an ordinary session and that this will not happen until 2023.

If successful, the lawsuit by Senators Sarah Eckhardt of Austin and Roland Gutiérrez of San Antonio would require justices to draw interim redistricting maps for the Legislature to use in the 2022 midterm elections.

In their lawsuit against Abbott and Acting Texas Secretary of State José A. Esparza in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Texas, the senators’ legal team alleges that a clause in the Texas constitution that establishes the timetable for modifying the legislative maps “prohibits the Legislature from distributing districts until the first ordinary session after the publication of each federal decennial census.”

Attorneys for Eckhardt, Gutiérrez, and the state political organization Tejano Democrats state in their lawsuit:

“The plain text of the Texas constitution prevents the Legislature from prorating the state Senate and House districts in a special session at this time. Therefore, this court faces the necessary duty to guarantee the constitutional administration of the 2022 electoral cycle of the state of Texas by drawing a provisional map ”.

Abbott is expected to convene a third special session to update the state’s legislative districts, and committee meetings on redistricting are scheduled to take place next week.

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The plaintiffs allege that unusual delays in the release of the 2020 national census disrupted the redistricting schedule set by the Texas Constitution and Supreme Court precedent.

One of the plaintiffs’ attorneys is former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson, a Republican from San Antonio.

The lawsuit raises “a very precise, but unpublished question,” said Michael Li, legal counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law specializing in redistricting and voting rights.

“(State legislators) have an obligation to redistribute in the 2023 session; what is not clear is if they can do it outside of that period, “said Li.