Case Summary
Perez v. Perry (Trial Court); Abbott v. Perez (SCOTUS)
Southern Coalition for Social Justice challenged Texas's congressional and state house redistricting after the 2010 census on behalf of the Texas State Conference of the NAACP and five individuals (Rev. Bill Lawson, Howard Jefferson, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Sheila Jackson-Lee, and Alexander Green). In their complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, plaintiffs alleged Texas's 2011 and 2013 maps were intentionally racially discriminatory in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act. The action was filed with co-counsel Gary Bledsoe, Robert Notzon, and the NAACP.
The Supreme Court reversed and remanded an initial trial court order striking down districts a intentionally discriminatory on June 25, 2018. On August 2, 2019, the trial court issued an Amended Final Judgment finding several specific district lines violated the Voting Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment.
Why it's Important
Voters seeking to challenge legislative enactments as intentionally discriminatory must overcome a presumption of good faith by the legislature.
