Senate Judiciary Hearings Possible on Texas Redistricting Plan

[kpete]

Chairman Arlen Specter tells the Washington Post that the 2003 redistricting plan in Texas and how it was handled at the Department of Justice is on his prospective Judiciary Committee agenda.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=156238

Washinton Post
WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
Thursday, December 8, 2005; Page A04
Hearings Possible on Texas Redistricting Plan

The Senate Judiciary Committee tentatively plans to conduct hearings next year on the Justice Department's handling of a 2003 proposal to redraw U.S. House districts in Texas, the panel's chairman said yesterday.

Recently disclosed memos show that senior Justice officials overruled a unanimous staff recommendation, which had concluded the Texas plan would violate the Voting Rights Act by diluting the electoral power of blacks and Hispanics. The redistricting plan, ultimately approved by the Texas legislature, was strongly backed by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).

"I've got it on a prospective agenda" for oversight matters to be addressed in 2006, Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told Washington Post reporters and editors.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/07/AR2005120702454.html