This is what Gerrymandering looks like

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This is what Gerrymandering looks like

A federal panel ruled Friday that three of Texas's Congressional districts, including the 35th, shown here, were illegally drawn by the state's Republicans.

A panel of federal judges ruled on Friday that three of Texas' congressional districts are illegal, violating the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. The panel found that Republicans had used race as a motivating factor in redistricting.

Judges Xavier Rodriguez and Orlando Garcia wrote the court's decision, which comes after a protracted and complex legal battle that began when the new districts were drawn in 2011, following the last census.

"The political motive does not excuse or negate that use of race; rather, the use of race is ultimately problematic for precisely that reason — because of their political motive, they intentionally drew a district based on race in a location where such use of race was not justified by a compelling state interest," says the ruling.

Politically motivated redistricting is legal, but redistricting with an intent to reduce the influence of minority voters — either by "packing" those voters into a district, or "cracking" them among multiple districts — is not.

This is what Gerrymandering looks like
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