Supreme Court declines to intervene in Voting Rights Act challenge to Texas county map over objections from liberals

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to intervene in a dispute over a Republican-drawn commissioners map in Galveston County, Texas, as courts continue to consider the reach of the landmark Voting Rights Act.

Tuesday’s order means that the County Commissioners Court map that a federal judge ruled violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act will remain in effect while a federal appeals court reviews the judge’s decision next year.

The dispute has gained the attention of voting rights experts across the county at a time when county-level officials are trying to redraw electoral maps and work to cement power after the 2020 census.

Critics say what Republican officials are attempting in Galveston – which they say amounts to a stark racial gerrymander that dismantled the only Black- and Latino-dominant precinct in the county – could be replicated across the country in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

The court’s three liberal justices publicly dissented from the court’s decision Tuesday.

“In imposing a different map, acknowledged to violate current law – on the theory that the Circuit might someday change that law – the Court of Appeals went far beyond its proper authority,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a brief dissent that was joined by her two liberal colleagues.

“Even though this case is only about a local district map in Galveston, it has much broader implications,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

“The (5th US Circuit) court of appeals justified letting the unlawful map stay in place in a way that will make it much harder, going forward, for plaintiffs in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas to persuade any federal judge to block an unlawful map except in very short windows after elections take place,” Vladeck said.

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