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Biden's DOJ is suing Texas for gerrymandering, but will it go after blue states for the same thing?
[FoxNews] Maryland, Illinois do nearly same thing DOJ is suing Texas for.

Texas on Monday became the first state to be sued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) over its proposed congressional redistricting map, raising questions about whether other heavily gerrymandered states could be next and whether Democrat-controlled states are at risk of being sued too.

"Our complaint today alleges that the redistricting plans approved by the Texas state legislature and signed into law by the Governor will deny Black and Latino voters an equal opportunity to participate in the voting process and to elect representatives of their choice," Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said Monday.

The lawsuit follows warnings from Attorney General Merrick Garland earlier this year that the DOJ is open to suing states if it believes their maps are gerrymandered to limit minority representation. But Texas is far from the only heavily gerrymandered state in the union. Republican-controlled Ohio and Pennsylvania, and Democrat-controlled Maryland and Illinois, are among the worst offenders.

Fox News asked the DOJ Monday if it may sue any other states for gerrymandering, including blue states. The department declined to comment.

The DOJ's lawsuit against Texas specifically alleges that the state uses a technique called "cracking" to split urban minority populations into several congressional districts that rope in large suburban and rural White populations. This creates districts that overall lean Republican and limits the opportunity minorities have to elect members that represent their specific interests, the department said.

"The enacted Congressional plan intentionally discriminates against minority voters in DFW by excising rapidly changing communities from DFW-based districts and attaching them instead through a narrow strip to several heavily Anglo counties," the DOJ's lawsuit against Texas says.

"By cracking minority communities and submerging urban minority voters among rural Anglos, the Congressional map effectively turns back a decade of rapid Latino population growth and preserves Anglo control of most remaining districts, particularly District 24," it adds.

This created several "Anglo-controlled districts," in the DFW area, the DOJ said. The DOJ alleges that Texas did the same in the Houston area.

But Texas is not nearly the only state to split up voters in minority-heavy cities for seemingly political purposes. Maryland's and Illinois' maps do essentially the same thing.

In the Maryland legislature's final proposed map, Baltimore City is split into three different congressional districts that reach far out into the state's suburbs and rural areas. The 7th Congressional District is shaped like an "S" and cuts through the heart of Baltimore, before reaching into the outlying areas north and south of the city – as far as the rural community Stablersville just 10 miles south of Pennsylvania.

The 3rd Congressional District is shaped like a giant "M." It starts in the rural farming areas along the Mason-Dixon line, dips down into Baltimore city, then juts south to Washington, D.C.’s, northwest suburbs in Glenmont. The 2nd Congressional District includes the southeast part of Baltimore as well as many of its suburbs to the north, east and south.
Posted by: Skidmark 2021-12-08
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=619398