At least a dozen members of Congress of both political parties are sponsoring multiple bills that would ban mid-decade congressional redistricting, which Texas Republican state lawmakers are now pushing at the behest of President Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott. But the prospects of such legislation passing in the current Republican-led Congress are bleak.
The trio of bills would bar states from redrawing congressional maps between censuses unless ordered to do so by courts. U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Houston) says most of the Texas Democratic delegation has signed onto one of the bills, authored by U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth). That bill, H.R. 4358, is now before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
"I would love for it to be considered, but I think in this House of Representatives, this judiciary committee is right in line with the president, and that’s one of the problems we have in this Congress," Fletcher said. "This Congress has not asserted its authority, and more than that, it’s kind of cheered on a lot of the efforts of the administration to take away Congress’ power. And so, I don’t see this Republican-controlled Congress putting any check on the administration or on what they're trying to do."
U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-California) has proposed a similar bill, and U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-New York) has pledged to do so as well. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, both Democrats, have said if Texas passes a bill to redraw its map to flip Democratic seats to the GOP, California and New York would pursue mid-decade redistricting as well. Those efforts would likely target Kiley and Lawler, among other GOP representatives.
“I have always opposed partisan gerrymandering and strongly disagree with the actions taken by Texas for mid-decade redistricting," Lawler said in response to Hochul's threat. "However, this does not change the fact that New York voters have repeatedly made it clear that they support an independent redistricting commission to draw fair maps and strongly oppose mid-decade redistricting."
Fletcher said there have been no conversations, let alone coordination, between the Texas Democrats and Kiley or Lawler with respect to such legislation.
Democrats have been attempting to pass a bill along these lines for more than two decades, dating back to the previous mid-decade round of redistricting in Texas in 2003, led by then-U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
"Ever since I’ve been in Congress, it has been the first priority of the Democratic caucus to do important democracy reforms, and addressing gerrymandering is key to that," Fletcher said. "But unfortunately, what’s changed [is that] the environment has only gotten worse in the time that I’ve been in Congress, and it’s gotten worse with this president, that the partisan divides are so deep, and people are speaking up, and I think that that could really change things."
A number of other states, including Florida and Indiana on the Republican side and Illinois on the Democratic side, appear to be considering redistricting as well. Justin Levitt, a law professor and redistricting expert at Loyola Law School, said a federal ban is the one thing that could avert what he likens to the political equivalent of nuclear war between state governments.
"It is long past due," Levitt said. "The legislators that are contemplating this, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, are preparing to violate the oaths of office they've taken to support and uphold the Constitution, but the only way it seems to have a peaceful ending to the Cuban Missile Crisis is for Congress to say, ‘Everybody go home now.' And I sure hope that works. I hope there's support for it."
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