What was billed as a possible U.S. Supreme Court showdown over the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act on Monday turned instead into narrower debate over how the redistricting of Texas legislative districts should proceed.
The Court devoted an unusual 75 minutes of time to hastily scheduled arguments in Perry v. Perez, a tussle over the new districts drawn by the Texas Legislature to reflect the latest decennial census. Because Texas is a state that must, under the Voting Rights Act, obtain federal preclearance before it changes any of its electoral processes, the case seemed like a new battlefront for states that chafe under the law.
