"Republican state and legislative leaders in Texas have taken redistricting far beyond a loud, ugly fight between Republicans and Democrats. They have turned it into an attack on racial fairness that involves the U.S. Department of Justice, two federal district courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Eight months ago, a three-judge federal court — including two judges appointed by Republican presidents — said it straight up, unanimously ruling on the redistricting maps submitted by Attorney General Greg Abbott that were passed by the GOP-led Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2011.
The judges said that the Texas maps were designed to discriminate — that the maps showed “more evidence of discriminatory intent than we have space, or need to address here"."
