On Wednesday, the court will hear the Texas case -- a challenge to the controversial redistricting that was engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) after Republicans won control of the state Legislature in 2003.
Electoral district boundaries are traditionally redrawn after the national census is conducted every 10 years. The idea is to make sure that population shifts are reflected in state legislatures as well as in Congress. But Texas Republicans acted in mid-decade. "This case is fundamentally about democracy," said R. Ted Cruz, the Texas solicitor general, defending the move as a matter of fairness. Eight million Texans were moved to new districts, and the plan worked as the GOP strengthened its narrow majority in Congress. Shortly afterward, lawmakers in two other red states, Georgia and Colorado, moved to redraw their districts to give Republicans more seats. |