By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX – "Disappointed, but not surprised" said Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) of a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ruling today related to redistricting in Texas.
The state's leadership had state attorneys ask the DOJ if pre-clearance was required under the Voting Rights Act to eliminate the two-thirds rule in the Texas Senate to take up congressional redistricting. In a letter today, the DOJ said the rule is not subject to pre-clearance.
DOJ officials said the two-thirds rule is "an internal legislative parliamentary rule or practice - not a change affecting voting" and therefore is not subject to pre-clearance.
West, a Dallas attorney in addition to his role as state senator, said he and his fellow Democratic colleagues are "offended that the DOJ acted without even meeting with the minority Texas senators who had asked for the opportunity to discuss the impact of the rule on their minority constituents."
Some of the 'Texas 11,' the absent 11 Democratic senators, had indicated last week that they would travel to Washington, D.C., this week to meet with DOJ officials to discuss the rule change. Those plans were scrubbed after today.
West blamed U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and his staff for turning the DOJ into the 'Department of Injustice,' where "the political staff dictates outcomes and the civil rights of Americans take a backseat to Republican politics."
With the DOJ ruling, the 'Texas 11' now face another court showdown - this one in federal district court in Laredo on Wednesday. The judge in that court will hear motions in the Senate Democrats' lawsuit tomorrow.
Despite the ruling today, the Democrats' lawyer Gerald Hebert said the matter "is still undetermined."
"We can still argue our case before the court in Laredo tomorrow," he said. Hebert decried the "unusual expedited handling" of the issue by the DOJ.
West alleged that the DOJ had prejudged the issue days before it was even submitted in writing on Aug. 15. He said the state's attorneys then "secretly" submitted their pre-clearance request "at the same time the Texas attorney general was arguing before a federal court that pre-clearance was not required."
"We always assumed justice would have to be found in the courts, not a department inappropriately named 'Justice,'" said West.