Reprinted with permission from AlterNet

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced today that the Department of Justice is suing the State of Texas for violating the Voting Rights Act.

Garland in a news briefing said Black and Latino voters were gerrymandered out of representation despite their increased numbers in the state.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta accused Texas of redrawing Congressional districts “with discriminatory intent.”

She told reporters the DOJ lawsuit “alleges that the redistricting plans approved by the Texas state legislature and signed into law by the governor will deny Black and Latino voters an equal opportunity to participate in the voting process and to elect representatives of their choice in violation of the Voting Rights Act. Our complaint also alleges that several of those districts were drawn with discriminatory intent. Texas’s 2021 redistricting plans were enacted through a rushed process with minimal opportunity for public comment without any expert testimony, and with an overall disregard for the massive minority population growth in Texas over the last decade.”

“Texas’s population grew by four million people from 2010 to 2020. And 95 percent of that growth came from minority populations. Despite the significant increase in the number and proportion of eligible Latino and Black voters in Texas, the newly enacted redistricting plans will not allow minority voters an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice. Instead, our investigation determined that Texas's redistricting plans will dilute the increased minority voting strength.”