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Fri Jan 20, 2012 at 05:12 PM CST
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Congressman Doggett released the following statement to Burnt Orange Report today on the SCOTUS opinion, emphasis mine:
"There is good news and bad news. The good news is that only Justice Clarence Thomas insisted on imposing the crooked Perrymandered map and rejecting the vital preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act. The bad news is that the Supreme Court did not affirm every aspect of the ruling by Judges Garcia and Rodriquez in San Antonio, so our primary election is not likely to proceed on April 3. Yet nothing in the Supreme Court order precludes a final congressional map like that already drawn by this San Antonio court. Republican comments to the contrary are wishful thinking at best. The mishandling of this matter by Rick Perry and Greg Abbott may unfortunately again delay this election, but it need not prevent full implementation of the Voting Rights Act to assure fair treatment of our Hispanic and African American neighbors. Better later and right than earlier and wrong."
"However the final lines are drawn, I will seek reelection wherever most of my constituents live. That is CD 25 composed of substantial parts of Travis and Hays Counties under the court map and CD35 under the Perrymandered map. To ensure that our shared progressive values continue to be advanced in Washington, I will continue working hard every day. I have been in San Antonio this week, like last week, and next week, and at every future opportunity. With active campaign offices in both San Antonio and Austin, I need all the volunteer help we can get now at each. I want to be as strong an advocate for working families in other parts of the I-35 corridor as I have been for the communities that I already serve in Congress."
Republicans are so determined to draw Lloyd Doggett out of Congress that they hacked Austin and Travis County into five Congressional districts with their illegal racist gerrymandered map. This isn't the first time Doggett's district has had to be re-drawn by the courts. In 2006, SCOTUS threw out Tom DeLay's mid-decade redistricting that forced Doggett into a district that ran from Austin to Mexico. That district was redrawn into the current CD-25. That district was warped by the Republican legislature into a conservative monstrosity running from Fort Worth to Austin.
Memo to Republicans: Doggett won't quit, and every time you try to draw him out, he just keeps fighting back. Maybe you should give up and get a new legislative priority other than forcing out Central Texas' progressive voice in Congress? |
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