The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that could alter the way virtually all legislative districts in the United States are drawn. Se t for hearing on December 8, 2015, the case of Evenwel vs. Abbott questions the use of the population equality standard to draw state legislative districts in Texas. The plaintiffs argued for the use of registered voters or potential voters (defined as voting age citizens) instead of the total population in a given district.
On November 5, 2014, the three judge court upheld the population equality standard for use in Texas, but the Supreme Court set the case for argument instead of simply affirming the appellate court opinion. This means that they plan to review the use of the population equality standard to draw districts, and could rule that the appropriate standard counts voters or potential voters instead of total population.
The question becomes how might that impact legislative districts. Below are what districts in our region might be facing based on analysis from Social Explorer. They provide information on the number of people that would fall out of consideration when districts are drawn. I have grouped them by Congressional Districts, State Senate Districts, and State Assembly Districts.
Congressional Districts 21 and 22
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State Senate Districts 47, 53, 51 and 49
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Assembly Districts 118, 117, 119, 121 and 101
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