The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“REDISTRICTING IN THE STATE OF TEXAS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H11183 on Dec. 7, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
REDISTRICTING IN THE STATE OF TEXAS
(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, over the last 48 hours a number of us had the displeasure of reading in The Washington Post an article detailing the antics of the process of redistricting in the State of Texas. Many of us who were engaged in that process a good year or two years ago remember sitting down and presenting a very fair case to the Justice Department lawyers that the plan that was offered by Texas Republicans would undermine the Voting Rights Act and be discriminatory.
Lo and behold, though we presented a very fair case, and the Justice Department lawyers agreed with us and wrote accordingly, what came out of the Justice Department was completely different. I cannot imagine any greater abuse of power than what happened in the Texas redistricting plan, where the lawyers for the Justice Department, civil servants who did their work and indicated that the plan would violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, were not allowed to prevail.
I would ask the Attorney General present now to investigate what occurred with respect to the Texas redistricting plan. We all know politics are in play, but they should not be in play in the works of our various executive agencies to provide the truth to the American people.
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