Supreme Court Hands Big Loss To Conservatives On Voting Districts

Conservatives lost big today in a seldom-seen unanimous ruling from the Supreme Court on how voting districts are drawn.

From The New Civil Rights Movement:

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a rare unanimous decision, has just ruled that states may rely on total population, and not just eligible voter population, when redrawing voter districts. Conservatives in Texas argued that only eligible voters should be relied upon when redistricting, claiming the U.S. Constitution forbids counting immigrants, children, and prisoners, who are not legally eligible to vote.

"The plaintiffs alleged the Texas legislative map effectively diluted the representation of citizens in rural, Republican-leaning areas in favor of Democratic-trending cities like Houston, where the population includes immigrants and children who are ineligible to vote," the Wall Street Journal reports.

"As the Framers of the Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment comprehended, representatives serve all residents, not just those eligible to vote," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who authored the decision, wrote.

BREAKING: SCOTUS unanimously rejects Texas GOP attempt to limit voting power of Hispanics & other minority groups https://t.co/nSShQLktr4

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 4, 2016