League Of United Latin American Citizens Et Al V. Abbott Et Al
This is a lawsuit filed against the Texas House Plan H2316, Senate Plan S2168, Congressional Plan C2193 and SBOE Plan E2106, alleging that they result in a denial or abridgment of the right to vote of individual plaintiffs and organizational plaintiffs' members on account of their race, color or ethnicity by having the intent and effect of canceling out or minimizing their voting strength as Latinos in Texas. Plaintiffs William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI), Fiel Houston, Inc., and Texas Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (TALAS) are organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life for all Americans, including voter registration, Get-Out-The-Vote activities, poll watcher service, administering voter education workshops and legislative advocacy on issues important to the Latino community, such as education, voting rights, immigrants' rights, healthcare and housing. The complaint claims that the plans were passed without sufficient notice, limited time for invited testimony, and no consideration of amendments, which violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The complaint also alleges that the plans dilute the voting strength of Latinos by failing to create additional Latino majority districts to reflect population growth, manipulating population into and out of districts based on race, and overpopulating Latino majority districts. Plaintiffs are asking for a three-judge trial court and are seeking a declaratory judgment that the plans are unconstitutional, a permanent injunction from using them, a reasonable deadline for state authorities to enact or adopt redistricting plans, and for all costs to be adjudged against the defendants, including reasonable attorney's fees.
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