<x-flowed>And would the Republicans in Texas be doing so out of racial animus, or out of animus against "black and Latino, as well as Anglo Democrats, nationally as well as in Texas"?  If the latter, is Section 5 the proper remedy?  In other words, if in fact it is partisan motive, rather than racial motive, that animates packing reliably Democratic minority voters into districts, is an anti-race discrimination statute justified as a means for correction?
I ask these questions genuinely, not rhetorically.
Rick

J. Morgan Kousser wrote:

 An interesting statement by Rep. Phil King, head of the TX House Redistricting Committee in 2003, gives some sense of what the world might be like without Section 5 of the VRA.  In a deposition in Session v. Perry, the TX re-redistricting case, he said that but for Section 5, he'd have tried to draw a redistricting plan that would have given the Republicans every one of Texas's congressional seats.  I doubt that that's possible, but he certainly could have reduced Democratic seats by cramming more minorities into a smaller number of districts if he hadn't  had to satisfy Beer, Bossier I and II, etc.  This of course would hurt black and Latino, as well as Anglo Democrats, nationally as well as in Texas.
  Since a post-Stevens Court will take any remaining air out of Vieth, and since Republicans can always apparently legally cover a racial with a partisan motive under Section 2 and the 14th and 15th Amendments -- see the evidence and opinions on the racial discrimination issues in former congressional districts 23 and 24 in Session v. Perry -- a failure to renew Section 5 will have quite predictable consequences for African-American and Latino representation:  It will reduce it by encouraging Republicans to pack minorities into as few districts as possible, which they can legalize by claiming a partisan motive.
  Vieth and the VRA really are connected.
Morgan

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