SCSJ, AALDEF, ACLU of TX, Brennan Middle Factor Commentary Responding to District Court docket’s Postponement of Texas Redistricting Trial

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 31, 2022

On Wednesday, August 31, legal counsel representing plaintiffs in the case Fair Maps Texas Action Committee, et al., v. Abbott, et al. released the following joint statement responding to the federal District Court’s postponement of the Texas Redistricting trial scheduled to begin on September 28, 2022. The court said that it would announce a new trial date at a future time.

The following statement can be attributed to the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the ACLU of Texas, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law:

“Today’s order from the District Court postponing the scheduled start of trial next month is the direct result of Texas’s delay tactics, designed to keep the redistricting process shrouded in secrecy. State leadership, including Governor Greg Abbott and key legislators, have resisted transparency at every turn. By attempting to conceal key documents and the testimony of state lawmakers responsible for drawing the maps, the state is hiding its motive for drawing maps that increase white voting power and discriminate against communities of color.

“Texans deserve transparency and accountability from their leaders, and fair, nondiscriminatory, and representative voting maps. The future of multiracial democracy is at stake. The fight for fair maps in advance of the 2024 election is far from over.”

BACKGROUND
On November 16, 2021, civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit challenging new Texas state legislative and Congressional redistricting plans as unconstitutional racial gerrymanders violating both the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution. The suit detailed an inadequate redistricting process lacking transparency, which led to discriminatory voting maps that dilute the political power of communities of color, particularly Black, Latino, and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters.

MEDIA CONTACTS: 
Gino Nuzzolillo, gino@scsj.org, 402-415-4763; SCSJ
Matt Levin, media@aclutx.org; ACLU of Texas
Stuart Sia, ssia@aaldef.org, 212-966-5932 x203; AALDEF
Julian Brookes, julian.brookes@nyu.edu, 646-673-6224; Brennan Center

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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing, and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas is the leading civil rights organization in the Lone Star State. Since our formation in 1938, we have worked in the courts, the legislature, and through public education to protect civil rights and individual liberty.

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), a New York-based national organization founded in 1974, protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the country to secure human rights for all. AALDEF focuses on critical issues affecting Asian Americans, including immigrant rights, voting rights and democracy, economic justice for workers, educational equity, housing and environmental justice, and the elimination of anti-Asian violence.The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law is an inde­pend­ent, nonpar­tisan law and policy organ­iz­a­tion that works to reform, revital­ize, and when neces­sary, defend our coun­try’s systems of demo­cracy and justice.