texas legislature

June 8, 2022 - Texas is heading to court to defend new election districts that divide and disempower Black and Latino communities while benefiting the GOP. The districts remain in play for this year's elections, but judges could order new ones before 2024.

December 10, 2021 - In its first lawsuit to come out of the latest round of redistricting, the U.S. Department of Justice has taken aim at Texas, arguing that the GOP legislature's new election district maps violate the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against voters by race or color. We look at some of the numbers cited in the lawsuit, which faces an uphill fight in the new legal landscape created by the Supreme Court's 2013 decision gutting the landmark civil rights-era law.

October 12, 2021 - The recent census results showed that the South is becoming more diverse, but state legislators are now drawing election districts that could keep communities of color from influencing congressional and legislative races.

July 22, 2021 - A new drama inspired by a true story, now streaming on NBC's Peacock, takes a disturbing look at the life of an incompetent Texas neurosurgeon and the patients he maimed and killed. It's an indictment of a rigged legal system that fails to protect the most vulnerable.

May 21, 2021 - Republican state legislators across the South are making it harder for voters to cast a ballot. Voting rights groups and local officials are suing over the changes, which they argue will disparately impact voters of color and those with disabilities. But the judges with the final say are mostly Republicans.

April 28, 2021 - Republican-controlled legislatures are restructuring the judicial branches in three Southern states in ways that could benefit the GOP and threaten judicial diversity. By contrast, legislatures in several other states in the region could expand appellate courts in ways that foster greater diversity on the bench.

April 8, 2021 - The Texas legislature may consolidate the state's appeals courts, where Democrats have gained seats in recent elections — and watchdogs say the changes could violate the Voting Rights Act. The plan is being pushed by a big business group that has spent nearly $1 million to back GOP judicial candidates. A new West Virginia appeals court also had the support of big business.