Redistricting revisited

Lasso cites this New Yorker article by Jeffrey Toobin on redistricting, and pulls up short when he sees a reference to the 2003 re-redistricting in Texas:

When the DeLay plan was submitted to the Justice Department for approval, career officials in the Voting Section produced an internal legal opinion of seventy-three pages, with seventeen hundred and fifty pages of supporting documents, arguing that the plan should be rejected as a retrogression of minority rights. However, according to people familiar with the deliberations, the political staff of the Voting Section exercised its right to overrule that decision and approved the DeLay plan, which is now in effect for the 2004 elections.

After asking if anyone had seen this before, he does a little Lexis searching and concludes that most of this was indeed already known and reported on, but adds that Toobin's assertion that Justice was originally inclined to reject the redistricting plan is new information. That's actually not so - we knew that in January. Obsessive linking and searchable archives do have their uses, you know.

TAPPED has some related information that's worth your time to check out as well. Lasso link via Roman Candles.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 21, 2004 to Killer D's | TrackBack