SAN ANTONIO - Texas does not need federal supervision to draw new voting maps, even though lawmakers were found to have intentionally drawn racially discriminatory maps in 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled.
Civil rights groups had sought federal oversight that would have required the legislature to pre-clear its voting district maps, but the three-judge panel ruled that such a bail-in is unwarranted.
The panel advised the state to conduct its redistricting process openly, “with the understanding that consideration of bail-in is always an option for whatever federal court or courts may be tasked with review of future legislative actions.”
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