The 2003 re-redistricting of the Lone Star State’s Congressional boundaries continues to reverberate in political and legal circles.

Last week, a federal court in Texas ordered the state government to repay more than $750,000 to plaintiffs who were partly successful in their efforts to overturn the Congressional map that the GOP-controlled Legislature enacted at the behest of then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R).

While the Supreme Court last year rejected the most pointed challenges to the redraw, the justices did find that one of the districts in the DeLay plan violated provisions of the U.S. Voting Rights Act. As a result, a federal court redrew five of the state’s 32 Congressional districts.

Although several sets of plaintiffs were seeking relief from the state for the court costs and attorneys fees associated with suing to overturn the Texas Congressional map, the federal court ruled that three could collect a total of $762,769.
— Josh Kurtz