Fifth Circuit Rejects Minority Coalitions’ Texas Voting Map Suit

Different coalitions of minority voters can’t band together to pursue claims under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a divided US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled.

In a 12-6 decision, the New Orleans-based court said Hispanic and Black voters in Texas’s Galveston County can’t team up to challenge a map for local commissioners, since the groups individually lack population numbers to qualify for protection under Section 2 of the law.

“Nowhere does Section 2 indicate that two minority groups may combine forces to pursue a vote dilution claim,” Judge Edith Jones, a Reagan appointee, wrote ...