Federal judges in Washington, D.C., stuck a dagger into the heart of the Republican gerrymander of Texas on Nov. 8, ruling that the current congressional and state House and Senate maps violate the Voting Rights Act. The three-judge panel referred the matter back down to the district court for the Western District of Texas, instructing them to draw new, fairer maps.

In their order, U.S. Circuit Judge Thomas Griffith and District Judges Rosemary Collyer and Beryl How­ell denied a request for summary judgment from Attorney General Greg Abbott, who wanted them to say the maps complied with the VRA. He had previously requested this preclearance from Attorney General Eric Holder and was denied (see "DOJ on Redistricting: Tell It to the Judge," Sept. 23). The judges wrote that they were rejecting his request because "the State of Texas used an improper standard or methodology to determine which districts afford minority voters the ability to elect their preferred candidates of choice."

Democrats cheered the possibility of new maps. Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Ritchie said in a statement: "The courts said what we've been saying all along. These illegal maps trample on the voting rights of Texans and don't allow voters to elect their candidates of choice." Mexican American Legis­lat­ive Caucus chair Rep. Trey Martinez Fisch­er, D-San Anton­io, was even more forthright: "The facts are undeniable. Texas growth is Latino growth, the Court has agreed with our position concerning summary judgment and we will now prepare for trial."

With filing for the 2012 elections due to open Nov. 28, the San Antonio judges have been given until the end of the month to draw new maps. Even though only a handful of districts have been shown to be in clear violation of the law, any boundary changes could have statewide ramifications, especially in the Senate, which was commonly seen to have been redrawn solely to remove freshman Fort Worth Dem Wendy Davis.

Texas is not alone in this electoral limbo: Candidates in 19 states are still waiting for maps to be confirmed, and the lawsuits are already flying. In Arizona, Repub­lic­ans went so far as to remove Colleen Mathis as chair of the Independ­ent Redistricting Com­mission: Mathis, a registered independent, has vowed to fight her removal, while Dems are planning recall elections for the Repub­lic­ans who ousted her.