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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton blasted the Biden administration’s recently announced voting rights lawsuit, alleging that the suit was a “preposterous attempt to sway democracy.”
“The Department of Justice’s absurd lawsuit against our state is the Biden Administration’s latest ploy to control Texas voters,” tweeted the Texas attorney general’s office on Monday.
“I am confident that our legislature’s redistricting decisions will be proven lawful, and this preposterous attempt to sway democracy will fail.”
BIDEN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES TEXAS OVER REDISTRICTING MAPS
The lawsuit alleges the districts drawn by Texas lawmakers violate the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting strength of minority voters.
“The department’s career voting law experts have assessed Texas’s new redistricting plans and determined that they include districts that violate the Voting Rights Act,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference announcing the lawsuit.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a voting rights lawsuit against Texas on Monday. Garland pictured here on July 23 in Chicago, Illinois. ( (Photo by Samuel Corum-Pool/Getty Images))
“This is not the first time that Texas has acted to minimize the voting rights of its minority citizens,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta added during the conference. “Decade after decade, courts have found that Texas has enacted redistricting plans that deliberately dilute the voting strength of Latino and Black voters and that violate the Voting Rights Act.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks outside the U.S. Supreme Court on November 01, 2021 in Washington, DC. Paxton on Monday fired back at the Biden administration’s redistricting lawsuit. ((Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images))
Monday’s lawsuit is just the latest the Biden administration has brought against the state of Texas. It recently challenged another voting bill and sued over the state’s controversial abortion ban.
The DOJ pointed to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits practices of procedures that discriminate on the basis of race.
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“Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act requires that state voting laws – including laws that draw electoral maps – provide eligible voters with an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process and elect representatives of their choosing,” Garland said in a statement. “The complaint we filed today alleges that Texas has violated Section 2 by creating redistricting plans that deny or abridge the rights of Latino and Black voters to vote on account of their race, color or membership in a language minority group.”
Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.