AUSTIN — Two Democratic state senators on Wednesday filed a lawsuit that challenges the plans of Gov. Greg Abbott and GOP legislative leaders to redraw political maps in a special session this year. The senators argued that the Texas Constitution requires that it be done in a regular session that won’t happen until 2023.
If successful, the suit by Sens. Sarah Eckhardt of Austin and Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio would require judges to create interim redistricting plans for the Legislature to use in the 2022 midterm elections.
In their suit against Abbott and acting Texas Secretary of State Jose A. Esparza filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, the senators’ legal team argued that a provision of the Texas Constitution outlining the schedule for redrawing legislative maps “prohibits the Legislature from apportioning districts until ‘the first regular session after the publication of each United States decennial census.”’
The attorneys for plaintiffs Eckhardt, Gutierrez and statewide political organization Tejano Democrats said in the suit: “The plain text of the Texas Constitution prevents the Legislature from apportioning its State House or State Senate districts in a special session at this time. Therefore, this Court faces the necessary duty of ensuring a constitutional administration of the 2022 Texas election cycle by drawing an interim map.”
The lawsuit comes as Abbott is expected to call lawmakers back for a third special session to redraw the state legislative districts and as a series of committee meetings on redistricting are set for next week. Abbott’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
The plaintiffs argued unprecedented delays to publication of the U.S. Census in 2020 interrupted the schedule of apportionment created by the Texas Constitution and Texas Supreme Court precedent. One of the plaintiffs’ attorneys is former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson, a Republican from San Antonio.
The suit poses “a very narrow question, but a new one,” said Michael Li, senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law who focuses on redistricting and voting rights.
“[State lawmakers] have an obligation to redistrict in the 2023 session,” Li said. “What is unclear is whether they could redistrict outside of that.”
