more on DeLay

Justice Department staff caught seeking justice instead of partisan gain

This is what you get for assuming that the job description you are giving describes the job you're supposed to do.

Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan.

The memo, unanimously endorsed by six lawyers and two analysts in the department's voting section, said the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts. It also said the plan eliminated several other districts in which minorities had a substantial, though not necessarily decisive, influence in elections.

"The State of Texas has not met its burden in showing that the proposed congressional redistricting plan does not have a discriminatory effect," the memo concluded.

Well, and I suppose that's what happens when you expect that laws against discrimination are meant to be obeyed instead of flagrantly disregarded in an attempt to disempower black and Hispanic voters, because they're so damn persistent in their refusal to vote against their interests.

I don't have much to say about this besides the usual stomping around and exploding with profane statements about Tom DeLay and his mother. It's not hard to take this redistricting thing a bit personally, since so much of it was aimed at slicing up Austin like a side of beef. So I'll leave it at that--fuck the Republicans.

(Pandagon)