Vera v. Richards
This case addresses a challenge to the 1991 Texas Congressional Redistricting Plan (HB1), specifically regarding allegations of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. Plaintiffs, a group of six Texas voters, argued that various congressional districts, particularly Districts 18, 29, and 30, were drawn with irregular boundaries solely to segregate voters by race. The court found that these three districts indeed exhibited extraordinarily convoluted shapes, which were unexplainable by traditional districting principles and were primarily designed to achieve specific racial compositions for electing minority representatives. The state's arguments, including incumbent protection and Voting Rights Act compliance, were deemed insufficient to justify the racially driven boundaries or to demonstrate narrow tailoring. Consequently, the court declared Congressional Districts 18, 29, and 30 unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment.