Both lawsuits accusing Tarrant County of racial gerrymandering are now over.
A group of Tarrant County residents who sued over the new commissioners court precinct map withdrew their lawsuit Monday without a clear explanation.
A second lawsuit, brought by local branches of the League of Women Voters and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), had been listed as pending as of Monday, but updated filings show it was dismissed Nov. 28.
Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare, who led the redistricting effort, announced the second case’s dismissal in a Facebook post.
[…]
In the League of Women Voters and LULAC case, the county contended the court had no jurisdiction in the case, and that redistricting had partisan motives, not racial ones.
“As such, the diminished ability to elect a Democrat is not an injury,” county attorneys wrote in a September filing.
Judge Megan Fahey agreed with the county and dismissed the case.
Attorneys with the Texas Civil Rights Project represented the local League of Women Voters and LULAC branches in the lawsuit. The county misread the law, TCRP said in a press release.
“Even as Defendant County Judge O’Hare and the Commissioners Court try to avoid accountability for their undemocratic and discriminatory map, we will never stop working to amplify the voices of Tarrant County residents and communities of color,” TCRP attorney Nina Oishi said.
See here, here, and here for some background. The withdrawn lawsuit was the federal one, the dismissed one is the state one. That could be appealed, though I doubt it would have a chance of success. All this sucks but none of it is unexpected at this point. The Tarrant County GOP took out insurance against losing their majority on Commissioners Court in the event that Tim O’Hare loses next November, and it has paid off for them, at least so far. Getting a Democratic majority will be harder now. I wish there were an easier way, but until there’s a working and enforceable Voting Rights Act again, there won’t be.