CASE SUMMARY

On November 3, 2021, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus ("MALC") of the Texas House of Representatives filed a lawsuit in a Texas district court against Texas's Governor and Secretary of State, challenging the state's enacted state House redistricting plan as violating the Texas Constitution. The plaintiff's complaint centers around Texas House Districts 35 and 37, which split Cameron County twice and branch off in different directions into separate, contiguous, neighboring counties to form distinct districts. The plaintiff asserts that this configuration unnecessarily violates Article III, Section 26 of the Texas Constitution, known as the "county line rule," which generally requires that state House districts be made up of either whole counties or wholly contained within a single county, and which further specifies the circumstances under which a county may be split in creating a state House district. They are seeking a judicial declaration that the state House plan violates Art. III, Section 26 of the Texas Constitution, an injunction barring the plan from being implemented or utilized in future elections, and for the court to adopt or cause to be adopted a legally appropriate alternative state House redistricting plan.

The district court consolidated this case with another lawsuit brought in a Texas district court challenging the state's enacted legislative plans, Gutierrez v. Texas. In December 2021, the defendants sought to have the consolidated actions dismissed on the grounds the plaintiffs lacked standing and their petitions were barred by sovereign immunity. On December 22, the court denied the plaintiffs' request for a temporary injunction and denied the defendants' jurisdictional challenges except as to the Gutierrez plaintiffs' claims for injunctive relief. The state defendants appealed this ruling to the Texas Supreme Court five days later, which held oral arguments on March 23, 2022.

CASE LIBRARY

Texas District Court, Travis County - No. D-1-GN-21-006515 [together with No. D-1-GN-21-006898]

Texas Supreme Court - No. 22-0008

Mexican Am. Legislative Caucus v. Abbott
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