Fair Maps Texas Action Committee v. Abbott (consolidated as LULAC v. Abbott)

After the 2020 Census, Texas was required to redraw its state legislative and Congressional districts to account for population changes. In the past decade since the 2010 Census, Texas’ population had substantially increased, with people of color accounting for the vast majority of this change.

Subsequently, the Texas legislature enacted new state house, state senate, and Congressional maps in 2021.

On November 16, 2021, the Fair Maps Texas Action Committee, consisting of the League of Women Voters of Texas (LWVTX), OCA-Greater Houston, the North Texas Chapter of the Asian Pacific Islander Americans Public Affairs Association ("North Texas APAPA"), Engage Texas, and thirteen individual voters filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas asserting the state’s new legislative and Congressional districts violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (“VRA”), the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Fifteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and were racially gerrymandered in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The complaint asserted the new districts discriminated against Texans of color, by (1) failing to create additional districts allowing voters of color the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice under Section 2 of the VRA, (2) cracking i.e. dividing voters of color into multiple districts to avoid creating districts providing voters of color the ability to elect candidates of their choice, and/or (3) destroying functional crossover and coalition districts, in which white voters and voters of color vote in coalition, or multiple groups of voters of color vote in coalition, respectively. Plaintiffs also argued each challenged set of maps diluted the power of voters of color’ votes.

In their complaint, LWVTX and its co-plaintiffs directed their focus on several counties containing substantial populations of voters of color, including Fort Bend, Bell, Collin, Tarrant, Harris, and Dallas Counties.

The complaint requested the court to block the use of the maps and order the creation of new maps that did not dilute voters of colors’ votes.

On November 19, 2021, LWVTX’s case was consolidated with six others challenging Texas’ redistricting results; the lead case is League of United Latin American Citizens v. Abbott. Litigation is ongoing.

Plaintiffs are represented by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), the ACLU of Texas, and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).

Note: Due to the complexity of the case, this case summary will follow the progress of the claims brought by the Fair Maps Texas Action Committee, of which LWVTX is a member.