Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document 664 Filed 02/20/12 Page 1 of 6

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1 Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document 664 Filed 02/20/12 Page 1 of 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS SAN ANTONIO DIVISION SHANNON PEREZ, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CIVIL ACTION NO. 11-CA-360-OLG-JES-XR STATE OF TEXAS, et al., [Lead Case] Defendants. MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE CAUCUS, TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Plaintiffs, CIVIL ACTION NO. v. SA-11-CA-361-OLG-JES-XR [Consolidated Case] STATE OF TEXAS, et al., Defendants. TEXAS LATINO REDISTRICTING TASK FORCE, et al., Plaintiffs, CIVIL ACTION NO. v. SA-11-CA-490-OLG-JES-XR [Consolidated Case] RICK PERRY, Defendant. MARGARITA V. QUESADA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CIVIL ACTION NO. SA-11-CA-592-OLG-JES-XR RICK PERRY, et al., [Consolidated Case] Defendants.

2 Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document 664 Filed 02/20/12 Page 2 of 6 JOHN T. MORRIS, Plaintiff, v. CIVIL ACTION NO. SA-11-CA-615-OLG-JES-XR STATE OF TEXAS, et al., [Consolidated Case] Defendants. EDDIE RODRIGUEZ, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CIVIL ACTION NO. SA-11-CA-635-OLG-JES-XR RICK PERRY, et al., [Consolidated Case] Defendants. RICK PERRY, et al., Defendants. QUESADA PLAINTIFFS SUPPLEMENTAL ADVISORY ON PROPOSED INTERIM MAP C226 AND ON QUESADA PLAN C234 At the February 14-15, 2012 hearing on proposed interim plans, and in their joint post hearing brief filed on February 16, 2012, the Quesada Plaintiffs joined with other Plaintiffs to make clear that CD33 under Plan C226 (proposed by the State, the Latino Redistricting Task Force, and Congressman Cuellar), while repairing the overt fracturing of Latino neighborhoods in the Dallas-Tarrant counties region, retains the illegal fracturing of African-American neighborhoods, particularly in the City of Fort Worth. 2

3 Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document 664 Filed 02/20/12 Page 3 of 6 CD33 in Plan C226 features significantly contorted boundaries and many split precincts that appear designed to capture Latino blocks and precincts while specifically excluding African- American blocks and precincts. In CD 33 in Plan C226, there are 113 VTD (precinct) splits nearly one quarter of the VTD splits in the entire plan. 1 As discussed in the February 16 th post hearing brief, the most obvious exclusions of adjacent African-American neighborhoods are the Meadowbrook/Handley area in southeast Fort Worth, the Lake Como area just west of Downtown, the long-established African-American neighborhood of Riverside that lies just east of I-35 and to the immediate north and south of I-30, and the large and growing African- American neighborhoods in southwest Fort Worth that are west of I-35 and South of I-20. In these neighborhoods alone, nearly 50,000 African-Americans who would more naturally be included in a new congressional district designed to repair illegal fracturing of minority neighborhoods are instead left stranded in Anglo-controlled Republican districts. Moreover, Plan C-226 appears to deliberately exclude the residences of potential candidates from Fort Worth, such as State Representative Marc Veasey and Constable Sergio DeLeon whose residences are excluded from CD33 in Plan C At the February hearing, the Quesada Plaintiffs advised the Court that in light of these objections, they had prepared and posted on the Texas Legislative Council (TLC) website a new congressional plan, Plan C231, for North Texas. Plan C231 was drafted to modify the 1 Such splits would cause local governments to spend more time and money in redrawing VTD boundaries, and would result in many more new VTDs than a redistricting plan that contains fewer split precincts. 2 The Quesada Plaintiffs, along with other plaintiffs (including LULAC and the NAACP) have made clear that they believe the dramatic growth of the African-American and Latino population in the Dallas-Tarrant region (and the loss of Anglo population in this area) justifies the creation of two minority ability to elect districts in this area. Notwithstanding this position, the Quesada Plaintiffs reiterate that CD33 in Plan C226 is a clear improvement over the State s enacted Plan C185, which illegally fractures both Latino and African-American communities in violation of Sections 2 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act and the United States Constitution. 3

4 Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document 664 Filed 02/20/12 Page 4 of 6 North Texas configuration, particularly proposed CD33, in Plan C226. Specifically, the Quesada Plaintiffs advised the Court that they had proposed Plan C231 because of the foregoing concerns which characterized CD33 in Plan C226. Though the Latino VAP in CD 33 under Quesada Plaintiffs Plan C231 remained over 50%, those parties who had proposed Plan C226, particularly the Latino Redistricting Task Force, opposed Plan C231 primarily because it decreased the Latino CVAP in CD 33 from 39% under Proposed Plan C226 to 34% under Plan C231. While the B+H CVAP in CD 33 under C231 made up a strong majority within the district (comprising 61.0%), the Task Force objected to CD 33 in Plan 231 because the Anglo CVAP in that proposed district of 35.8% exceeded the Hispanic CVAP of 33.8%. In light of these concerns, the Quesada Plaintiffs have revised CD 33 in Plan C231 and those revisions are now posted on the TLC website as Plan C234. Again, this proposal is a North Texas-only configuration that can be dropped into proposed Plan C226. Proposed District 33 in Plan C234 accomplishes the following objectives: eliminates the fracturing of African American neighborhoods in Tarrant County, avoids unnecessary precinct (VTD) splits, avoids splitting precincts along racial or ethnic lines, provides Latino voters with an effective opportunity to elect a candidate of choice, makes minimum changes to adjacent districts, does not deliberately exclude residences of possible congressional candidates in CD33, and uses existing House districts (which have elected minority voters candidates of choice to the Texas House) as the core of the new proposed CD33. CD 33 under Quesada Plan C234 provides Latinos with a strong majority in the voting age population and a plurality in the citizen voting age population. Latino CVAP in CD33 in Plan 234 is 35.2% and exceeds the Anglo CVAP of 34.2%. As a consequence of eliminating the fragmentation of African-American neighborhoods in Fort Worth, the black voting age 4

5 Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document 664 Filed 02/20/12 Page 5 of 6 population in CD 33 rises to 21.5% (compared to just 17.5% in Plan C226). CD 33 in Plan C234 will clearly elect the minority candidate of choice and provide Latino voters with the greatest potential voting strength in CD33 under this plan. CD33 in plan C234 is built using four State House Districts in Tarrant and Dallas counties as its base three Hispanic ability to elect House Districts (90, 103 and 104) and one African-American ability to elect House District (95). See attached exhibit. As the attached exhibits show, while CD33 under Plan C234 has an 80% overlap with CD33 under Plan C226, it contains a higher percentage of the population from each of these current State House districts. CD33 under Plan C234 is a logical combination of established and growing minority neighborhoods with a shared community of interest. Plan C234 makes changes in only six congressional districts that are all or partly within Dallas-Tarrant counties which include CD5, CD6, CD12, CD24, CD30 and CD32. It fits within Plan C226 and does not materially change the demographic or political make-up of any district other than CD33. The Quesada Plaintiffs respectfully urge this Court, if it is inclined to create only one new minority ability to elect congressional district in the North Texas region, to utilize CD 33 as drawn in Plan 234 over the version of CD 33 in Plan

6 Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document 664 Filed 02/20/12 Page 6 of 6 Respectfully submitted, /s/ J. Gerald Hebert J. GERALD HEBERT 191 Somervelle Street, #405 Alexandria, VA (703) GERALD HARRIS GOLDSTEIN DONALD H. FLANARY, III GOLDSTEIN, GOLDSTEIN & HILLEY Tower Life Building 310 S. St. Mary's, 29th Floor San Antonio, TX (210) Fax: (210) Counsel for Plaintiffs MARGARITA V. QUESADA, et al. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on this 20th day of February 2012, I filed and served the foregoing Advisory of the Quesada Plaintiffs with attached exhibits by filing the same in this Court s ECF system, which caused copies of this document to be sent to counsel of record in this litigation. Those attorneys not registered in the ECF system were served via first-class mail. /s/ J. Gerald Hebert J. GERALD HEBERT 6

7 Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document Filed 02/20/12 Page 1 of 1 DALLAS & TARRANT COUNTIES WISE 26 Black+Hispanic Population by VTD COLLIN DENTON U.S. Congressional Districts Quesada Plaintiffs North Texas Settlement Option B PLANC234 ROCKWALL PLANC234 COUNTIES 12 TARRANT DALLAS PARKER KAUFMAN Percent Black+Hispanic Population 2010 Census by VTD 70.0 to to to to to to 29.9 No Black+Hispanic Population HOOD JOHNSON 6 VAP: Voting Age Population VTD: Voting Tabulation District ELLIS Map ID /17/12 15:22:45 SOMERVELL Census PLANC :53:54 Texas Legislative Council

8 Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document Filed 02/20/12 Page 1 of 1 DALLAS & TARRANT COUNTIES WISE 26 Black Population by VTD COLLIN DENTON U.S. Congressional Districts Quesada Plaintiffs North Texas Settlement Option B PLANC234 ROCKWALL PLANC234 COUNTIES 12 TARRANT DALLAS PARKER KAUFMAN Percent Black Population 2010 Census by VTD 70.0 to to to to to to 29.9 No Black Population HOOD JOHNSON 6 VAP: Voting Age Population VTD: Voting Tabulation District ELLIS Map ID /17/12 15:22:39 SOMERVELL Census PLANC :53:54 Texas Legislative Council

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12 Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document Filed 02/20/12 Page 1 of 1 HD90 HD95 HD103 HD104 C % 81.0% 57.7% 97.3% C % 98.6% 62.7% 100.0%

13 Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document Filed 02/20/12 Page 1 of 2 %Ang Pop AVAP %ACVAP %Blk Pop %BVAP %BCVAP %Hisp Pop Plan C % 18.4% 32.1% 17.2% 17.8% 24.8% 66.3% Plan C % 21.1% 34.2% 21.3% 21.5% 27.4% 60.0%

14 Case 5:11-cv OLG-JES-XR Document Filed 02/20/12 Page 2 of 2 %HVAP %HCVAP %B+H Pop %BHVAP %BHCVAP 61.3% 39.6% 82.7% 78.5% 64.4% 54.8% 35.2% 80.5% 75.8% 62.6%