The Justice Department has sued Texas over its heavily gerrymandered political maps, charging that Republican lawmakers drew new districts that favor white voters despite the rapid growth of Black and Latinx communities in Texas. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said Monday the new maps show clear signs of discrimination. 

Vanita Gupta: “Texas will gain two new congressional seats because of its population growth, almost all of which is due to growth in the state’s minority population. However, Texas has designed both of those new seats to have white voting majorities. The congressional plan also deliberately reconfigured a West Texas district to eliminate the opportunity for Latino voters to elect a representative of their choice. This is the third time in three decades where Texas has eliminated a Latino electoral opportunity in this same district, despite previous court determinations that this violates the law.” 

This comes a month after the Justice Department sued Texas over its recently passed voter suppression law, saying it illegally targets Texans of color, voters who don’t speak English and voters with disabilities.