Latino Voters Sue Over Discrimination in Judicial Elections

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — In a strange turn of events the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, along with two Texas law firms, has filed suit against the state of Texas on behalf of individual Latino voters alleging that the elections for Texas' highest courts violates the Voting Rights Act.

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The state's two highest courts, the Texas Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals, are elected statewide, a method that the suit claims prevents Latino voters from having an equal opportunity to elect judges of their choice.

In the suit the plaintiffs allege that — since the vote for the 18 justices is statewide, and Latinos only make up 26.5 percent of the voting age population —the method for casting ballots for the high courts illegally dilutes Latino voting strenght.

It seems highly unlikely that this suit will proceed, if only because it would set a precedent that would, essentially, make all statewide races illegal.