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August 04, 2006

Thank You, Patrick Higginbotham & Co., For Reuniting Austin

It's great to see three years after the Republicans in Texas redrew the lines in our state that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, led by Judge Patrick Higginbotham, decided to use common sense rather than partisanship to redraw the boundaries. It was initially looking quite bleak for District 25 congressman Lloyd Doggett after Rick Perry and his attorney general Greg Abbott submitted a map that would excise Austin entirely from his district, leaving the city proper without its own elected representative (unless Doggett had been wily enough to move again and win an election against another Rep. Lamar Smith of San Antonio). Quite bleak indeed.

When asked by Higginbotham about the state's intentions, attorney Ted Cruz played dumb: "Cruz denied that the state Republican leadership was trying to target Doggett when it drew its map. He said the state did not know Doggett had moved from East Austin and would be paired with Smith under its proposal."

Under the judges redrawn lines, District 25 will now be less of a skinny fajita strip–in fact, it's gained a little weight from eating up Southern Travis and five nearby counties rather than seven counties stretching to the Rio Grande. Southern Texas will comprise two districts, 15 and 28. And the new point "where districts meet" will be about a block west of 29th and Lamar.

To top it off, Tom DeLay, the man who instigated the re-redistricting chaos, hasn't been doing too well in the courts lately, either. Karma can be a bitch.

Now if we could only auf his henchman Rick Perry in this fall's election.

Update: Paul Burka of Texas Monthly has a great in-depth post on the court's decision:

A final word on the two cases I observed this week--this one and the Tom DeLay ballot case before the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans three days earlier. I'm not too enamored of the executive branch of the federal government these days, and who could find anything to like about this Congress, but the much maligned federal judiciary looked great to me. Both cases had significant political implications, but both courts, and especially their presiding judges, displayed intelligence, fairness, restraint, nonpartisanship, and a desire to follow the law. No citizen could ask for more.

Posted by timothompson at August 4, 2006 06:22 PM