WASHINGTON - A redistricting case separate from Arizona's was also heard by the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday. And it has Hispanic congressmen worried it could lead to giving the majority white population a new tool to maintain political control despite changing demographics.
The case challenges the practice in Texas to use census population to draw legislative district lines. That system, the same as used in Arizona, is based on a head count done every decade by the U.S. Census.
But challengers contend that's not fair since all residents are not necessarily registered voters. So they are asking the justices to allow states to use some other metric, like citizenship or even voter registration.
Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego, speaking as a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said that would lead to unfair results.
"The concept in the United States is that you have always been able to get representation whether or not you are allowed to vote, whether or not you are registered to vote, whether or not you are in the process of becoming a voter,'' the Phoenix Democrat said at a press conference Tuesday in front of the high court.
"You still have a right to representation, you still have a right to petition your government,'' Gallego said. "By giving power to one person more so than another by dint of registration you are disempowering, disenfranchising many other people.''
Challengers in the Texas case are arguing the opposite.
In their legal arguments to the court, they say the current system allows adoption of a map for the state Senate "even if 30 of the districts each contained one eligible voter and the 31st district contained every other eligible voter in the state.'' That, they say, violates the constitutional requirement of one person, one vote.