What the Supreme Court Gerrymandering Battle Could Mean for Texas' Elections

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in Wisconsin's partisan gerrymandering case that could have implications for elections across the country, including Texas. The case, Gill vs. Whitford, involves a redistricting plan Wisconsin's Republican-controlled legislature passed in 2011. A divided panel of three judges in Wisconsin ruled last year that the map heavily favored Republican candidates, violating the First Amendment and equal rights protections in the Constitution. Texas is in the midst of its own years-long racial gerrymandering case over the legality of its electoral maps, which minority lawmakers and civil rights groups allege limit the voting power of African-Americans and Latinos. In September, the Supreme Court halted a lower court's ruling that ordered Texas to redraw congressional and statehouse maps.   Continue reading...