Texas redistricting & fairness

[Michael Pollak <mpollak@xxxxxxxxx>]

>From today's Washington Post:

Judge Patrick Higginbotham, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th
Circuit and one of three federal judges hearing the case, seemed skeptical
of the Democrats' suggestion that redistricting had ever been a
scrupulously fair undertaking.

He recalled that former Texas governor William P. Hobby, a World War I-era
Democrat, once likened redistricting to a "religious experience" in which
majority-party lawmakers (then the Democrats) fell to their hands and
knees over a state map, and drew new congressional boundaries to reward
their friends and punish their enemies.

"When did this tradition of fair play across the aisles come to Texas?"
the judge asked to scattered guffaws around the courtroom.

"Well, judge, I would hope it would start today," said one of the
Democratic lawyers, Richard Gladden.

"Now that would be a religious experience," the judge said.