Redistricting: State, Jackson Plaintiffs File Reply Briefs

It was another busy Friday in the world of Texas Redistricting.

The state, via the office of the Attorney General, filed this reply brief to the various and sundry remedy briefs filed by the plaintiffs, intervenors and other interested parties.

The Jackson Plaintiffs filed this reply brief to the AG’s plan and others.

I’ve yet to wade through them all, but will over the course of the weekend. In the meantime, consider this lengthy footnote from the AG’s brief in which the state tries to justify its massive screw-up regarding where Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) actually lives:

Press accounts suggest that Congressman Doggett may have recently moved from current
District 10 into current District 25. At the time the Court considered Plan 1374C, Congressman
Doggett was in current District 10. See, e.g., Alford Report at 29 (“Congressman Doggett
remains in the 10th District [in Plan 1374C] . . . .”) [Jackson Tr. Exh. 44]; Lichtman Report at 73
(Table 32) [Jackson Tr. Exh. 1]. Nonetheless, he ran for and was elected to represent current
District 25. The State Defendants’ proposed map, Plan 1418C, was drawn like every other map—using the RedAppl database, which includes the home residences of all the incumbent Members of Congress. And the RedAppl database (which is regularly updated) lists Congressman Doggett’s home address as still within District 10. Indeed, in an abundance of caution, while drafting the State Defendants’ opening brief, staff of the Office of the Attorney General telephoned the Legislative Council to verify Congressman Doggett’s home address. And Legislative Council staff expressly confirmed that, according to the official records of the Legislative Council, Congressman Doggett’s home residence was still within District 10.
Regardless of whether Congressman Doggett may have at some point purchased an additional home or whether he might own multiple homes in multiple districts, he is not paired in the RedAppl database, and Plan 1418C results in the identical partisan divide as currently exists, including a strongly Democratic District 25 that encompasses over 97% of Congressman Doggett’s prior geography. And, assuming press accounts of Congressman Doggett’s new address are accurate, he has traded being nominally paired with Congressman McCaul for being nominally paired with Congressman Smith. Those nominal pairings do not affect his ability to run as an incumbent in his current District, any more than they did in 2004.

Judging by the heavy emphasis they placed on the “media accounts,” I think they dug themselves into more of a hole than out of one.

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