As a panel of three federal judges deliberates whether the Texas districts for Congress and State Representative were drawn specifically to disenfranchise minority voters, Republicans are rejecting the allegations, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"It doens't matter, really, what Republicans do, Democrats always say there is racism behind it," Matt Mackoviak, a prominent Republican political consultant and newly elected Travis County Republican Chairman told 1200 WOAI news.
The allegation is that the Republicans who control the Texas Legislature drew serpentine legislative and Congressional districts with the sole purpose of reducing the minority vote, which is largely Democratic. Several civil rights groups which are bringing the lawsuit allege the Republicans used a process known as 'packing and cracking' to draw the districts.
'Packing,' refers to the bunching of sometimes disparate minority communities into one district, in order to free up more reliably Anglo Republican voters to be the majority in several other districts.
Lawyers for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, for example, displayed districts which stretch through several counties, rumble through swamps and leap over rivers and bays in order to include several minority communities into the same district.
'Cracking' is when map makers split generally cohesive minority districts into several different districts to try to blunt the impact of the mostly Democratic minority community.
But Mackowiak says it doesn't make sense for Republicans to want to blow off minority votes. He says at a time when Hispanics, for example, are poised to become more populous than Anglos in Texas, the goal of the Republican party is to convince Hispanics to vote Republican.
"Republicans have to get to the point when we start winning minority votes, and many Republicans look at Hispanics, in particular, and future Republicans," he said.
The battle in the courts over redistricting dates back to 2003, when the Republicans took control of the Texas Legislature, and, in the famous 'Killer D's' session, when Democrats left the state to deny Republicans the needed quorum to approve a new redistricting map, finally succeeded in approving the current political framework which has cemented Republican control over Texas politics.
Mackowiak says if the Democrats want to have control over redistricting, the best way to do is not run to the courts, but win some elections. He says each party draws political boundaries to its own benefit, which is perfectly legal, and is part of American politics.
"How can it be that 98% of members of Congress get re-eelcted every year, when Congress has a 15% approval rating?"