The Justice Department on Monday sued Texas for the second time in a month over voting-related concerns, this time alleging that Republican state lawmakers discriminated against Latinos and other minorities when they approved new congressional and state legislature districts that increased the power of White voters.

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       Attorney General Merrick Garland’s announcement marked the department’s first major legal action on redistricting. It comes at a time when the U.S. House is narrowly controlled by Democrats, some GOP-controlled state legislatures are tightening voting restrictions, and both parties are trying to draw maps to their own advantage ahead of the 2022 midterms and 2024 presidential election.

       While the Supreme Court has declined to put limits on partisan gerrymandering, drawing lines that unfairly disadvantage racial and ethnic minorities is illegal.

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       “This is not the first time Texas has acted to minimize the voting rights of its minority citizens. Decade after decade, Texas has enacted redistricting plans that violate the Voting Rights Act,” the Justice Department said in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Western Division of Texas. “In enacting its 2021 Congressional and House plans, the State has again diluted the voting strength of minority Texans.”

       While Texas laws are moving right while its population shifts left

       The lawsuit named Texas Secretary of State John Scott as a defendant. A spokesman for Scott declined to comment and referred questions to the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton.

       Paxton posted a tweet calling the suit “absurd” and “the Biden Administration’s latest ploy to control Texas voters.”

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       “I am confident that our legislature’s redistricting decisions will be proven lawful, and this preposterous attempt to sway democracy will fail,” he wrote.

       Read the text of the redistricting lawsuit

       Texas GOP leaders have previously said the congressional maps were approved by lawyers who determined the districts complied with voting rights laws.

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       But the maps have also drawn two legal challenges from advocacy groups, including one filed last month by a group affiliated with Eric H. Holder Jr., who led the Justice Department in the Obama administration.

       Attorney General Merrick Garland on Dec. 6 announced the Justice Department had sued Texas over redistricting maps, citing discrimination against minorities. (The Washington Post)

       Garland’s decision to pursue litigation comes just weeks after the Justice Department sued Texas over a separate law that federal officials say would disenfranchise eligible voters, including older Americans and people with disabilities, by banning 24-hour and drive-through voting and giving partisan poll watchers more access.

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       Texas lawmakers approved the new congressional boundaries in October after a redistricting process led by Republicans, who control the state Senate and House.

       The 2020 census showed that Texas’ population grew dramatically, by nearly 4 million people. Most of that growth was among minority populations, with White Texams accounting for only about 5 percent of the increase in population.

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       The growth means the number of Texan seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will grow from 36 to 38 — the only state to gain two seats. Rather than reflect the growth of Latino voting strength in the state, the Justice Department argues, the new districts would unfairly and illegally dilute their representation. ？

       Latino population growth helps GOP states like Texas gain congressional seats

       Texas Republicans didn’t try to draw lines to immediately take seats away from Democrats. Instead, analysts say, they redrew nearly a dozen districts that could have become more competitive over the next decade to ensure they stayed solidly red. The result is that even as those areas of Texas become more demographically diverse, the changes likely won’t be reflected in elections.

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       “The Justice Department will not stand idly by in the face of unlawful attempts to restrict access to the ballot,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said. She accused Texas lawmakers of using rushed legislative process that minimized opportunities for public input into the new voting districts.

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       For decades, Democratic administrations have sued Texas over how it handles voting issues, from redistricting to voter access. Their chances of success were weakened by a Supreme Court ruling in 2013 that effectively ended the requirement that Texas and other states with a history of discrimination in voting had to get preapproval from the Justice Departemnt for new voting district maps drawn after every census.

       In his news conference on Monday, Garland called on Congress to reinstate that preclearance authority. If Justice still had that legal tool, he said, “we would likely not be here today announcing this complaint.”

       This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.