Justices deny Texas lawmakers’ bid to block deposition in redistricting case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a request by a group of Texas Republicans to block subpoenas for their testimony in a dispute over Texas’s new voting maps, which are alleged to illegally discriminate against racial minorities.

The court’s move, issued in a brief unsigned order without noted comment or dissent, leaves intact a lower court order that allowed for the deposition of three Texas lawmakers as part of a lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and voting rights groups.

The lawsuit alleges that the state’s new congressional and state legislative maps dilute minority voting power, despite the share of Latino and Black voters in Texas growing significantly over the last decade, and requests that the maps be redrawn. 

As part of this effort, the Biden administration and voting rights groups requested testimony from Republican Texas House Reps. Ryan Guillen, Brooks Landgraf and John Lujan. The lawmakers’ claims of immunity were rebuffed by lower federal courts, prompting their unsuccessful application to the Supreme Court.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in October signed into law a new congressional map that independent analysts say gives Republicans an unfair partisan advantage.

In December, the DOJ and voting rights advocates sued Texas over the state’s new redistricting plan, alleging its map undermines minority groups’ right to vote in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The once-per-decade redistricting process that followed the latest census set off a scramble to manipulate voting maps for partisan gain and numerous high-stakes legal challenges, with control of the U.S. House and a number of state legislatures hanging in the balance.

Updated at 11:14 a.m.