POFR: US Supreme Court to Hear Evenwel v. Abbott: Challenge to State of Texas Senate Districts

WASHINGTON, May 26, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the US Supreme Court announced it will take up for argument next term Evenwel v. Abbott, a challenge to the constitutionality of the Texas Senate redistricting plan that was enacted into law in 2013.

Two Texas voters, Sue Evenwel and Ed Pfenninger, brought this lawsuit asserting that their senate districts were malapportioned because there are a significantly higher number of eligible voters in their districts than in many other districts. This imbalance resulted in a violation of the "one-person, one-vote" constitutional tenet.

In each of the 31 senate districts in Texas there are about 811,000 people, but there are wild disparities in the number of people per district who actually have the legal right to cast a ballot.

Specifically, in Sue Evenwel's mostly rural district, about 584,000 citizens are eligible to vote. In a neighboring urban district, only 372,000 citizens are eligible. As a result, voters in the urban district have more sway than in the rural district; their individual electoral preferences carry more weight.

Sue Evenwel and Ed Pfenninger jointly said, "We are grateful that the justices on the Supreme Court have agreed to hear our case. It is to be hoped that the outcome of our lawsuit will compel Texas to equalize the number of eligible voters in each district."

The Project on Fair Representation, a legal defense foundation based in Austin, Texas, has provided counsel to the plaintiffs. Attorneys for POFR are William Consovoy, Tom McCarthy, and Michael Connolly of Consovoy McCarthy PLLC in Arlington, Virginia.

Edward Blum, president of POFR said, "This case presents the Court with the opportunity to restore the important principle of one-person, one-vote to the citizens of Texas and elsewhere."

The Project on Fair Representation has provided counsel in a number of landmark Supreme Court cases including Northwest Austin Municipal Utility Dist. No. One v. Holder, Abigail Fisher v. Univ. of Texas and Shelby County, Ala. v. Holder.

Contact: Edward Blum
(703) 505-1922

SOURCE The Project on Fair Representation

Related Links

http://www.projectonfairrepresentation.org