Story highlights Judges: The plan carved up Latino areas, thus limiting Latino political strength

(CNN) A three-judge panel in a Texas redistricting case has ruled that the Texas Legislature's 2011 congressional redistricting plan discriminated against minority voters.

The federal judges concluded in a 2-1 vote late Friday that the drawing of some of the state's congressional districts violated the federal Voting Rights Act or the US Constitution.

The plan carved up Latino areas, thus limiting Latino political strength in south and west Texas, the judges said. These voters' needs must be addressed, they said.

Several groups sued Texas in 2011 after claiming that congressional districts were drawn unconstitutionally and were intended to harm minority voters.

The ruling will require that Latino majority congressional districts in the region be redrawn in a way that includes Nueces County and excludes Travis County.

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