SCOTUS Doesn't Mess With Texas

Isn't it amazing how no matter how badly and how many times the Democrats lose, they always insist they've won?

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld most of the Texas congressional map engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay but threw out part, saying some of the new boundaries failed to protect minority voting rights. ...

At issue was the shifting of 100,000 Hispanics out of a district represented by a Republican incumbent and into a new, oddly shaped district. Foes of the plan had argued that that was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voting rights.

On a different issue, the court ruled that state legislators may draw new maps as often as they like - not just once a decade as Texas Democrats claimed. That means Democratic and Republican state lawmakers can push through new maps anytime there is a power shift at a state capital.

This is the decision that al-Timesa called "a small victory for Democratic and minority groups." A "victory" in the sense that Drillbit Tech scores a late touchdown to lose to Nebraska 77-7 instead of being shut out. In terms of what the plaintiffs were seeking to do - overturn the entire Texas redistricting after the 2002 elections and revert back to the Dem-orchestrated gerrymander from 1991 - it was a blowout defeat.

Here's what the "gods" wrote:

Under Plan 1151C, the 2002 congressional elections resulted in a 17-to-15 Democratic majority in the Texas delegation, compared to a 59% to 40% Republican majority in votes for statewide office in 2000, thus leaving the 1991 Democratic gerrymander largely in place. [emphasis added]

As Dudley Dawson said after he and his Lambda Lambda Lambda brothers got screwed over by the Greek Council yet again, "This is bullshit." That the League of United Latin American Citizens tried to justify the restoration of this ballot box robbery via the race card makes it even more despicable.

It should also be pointed out that the Texas legislature, then controlled by Democrats, failed to redistrict after the 2000 census, letting (does this sound familiar?) the courts do it instead. And, naturally, the courts left Plan 1151C intact. Only problem was the Texas constitution specifically stipulates redistricting as the purview of the legislature. And the legislature that convened to do that remedial redistricting no longer had a Democrat majority, but a Republican one, and they simply unstacked the deck and restored a level playing field reflective of the Texas electorate. So of course it cost House Dems half a dozen seats, and of course they were livid about it, and of course they called it a Tom DeLay "power grab," and of course they went right back to the courts to get it overturned.

And they got a single sop: the twenty-third district, represented by Republican (and Hispanic) Henry Bonilla, on the grounds that it "excluded Hispanics and did not allow them an equal opportunity for representation." Um, whatever, senor.

You realize, of course, that this was al Donka's last chance of retaking the House this November.

So, let's tally this up: Tom DeLay's "power grab" has been confirmed, and Ronnie Earle's abusive partisan persecution never went anyplace. So tell me again why the Hammer is no longer in Congress?

[h/t CQ]