Friday, February 18, 2011

RedistrictingOnline.org: Court Decision in a Closely Watched Case Involving Citizen Voting Age Population: Lepak v. City of Irving, TX

"The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas delivered its opinion today [Feb. 15] in Lepak v. City of Irving, TX, granting the motion for summary judgment in favor of the City of Irving [the defendant.]
The plaintiffs in this case had requested the court to require that the City redistrict its city council lines on the basis of citizen voting-age population (CVAP). The current set of 6 districts was created on the basis of total population with district 1 having a CVAP considerably lower (nearly 50% lower according to the plaintiffs) than the remaining five. Plaintiffs had argued that the voters in district 1 as result had nearly twice the voting power as the voters in the remaining five districts, in violation of the “one person one vote principle’ delineated in Reynolds v. Simms."
http://www.redistrictingonline.org/nblepakdecision021511.html 
The court unanimously agreed that without further guidance from the Supreme Court this matter is a political one best left to the state legislature to determine.


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