On June 8, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Allen v. Milligan to preserve the current application of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), a crucial federal provision that protects against racially discriminatory voting laws and electoral practices. Almost two months later, on Aug. 7, 2023, a federal district court will hold a trial in a local redistricting lawsuit out of Galveston County, Texas involving claims brought under Section 2 of the VRA.

The consolidated case, Petteway v. Galveston County, challenges the 2021 redistricting plan for the Galveston County Commissioners Court, alleging that it discriminates against the county’s Black and Latino voters and dilutes their electoral influence. The Commissioners Court is composed of four commissioners who are elected via single-member districts called “precincts” and a presiding officer known as a county judge, who is elected at-large.

Serving as the county’s primary governing body, the Commissioners Court exercises substantial authority over policy-making, budgetary and infrastructure-related matters within the county. Despite accounting for nearly 40% of the county’s total population, Black and Latino residents do not constitute a majority in any commissioner precinct under the challenged redistricting plan......

At two separate junctures, the Republican commissioners attempted to stymie legal proceedings pending the Supreme Court’s decision in Allen. The federal judge presiding over the case ultimately rejected both of these requests and ordered litigation to proceed, holding that the defendants’ entreaties were both presumptuous and dilatory:

The defendants ask this court to speculate that the Supreme Court will alter the standard it announced…for voter-dilution claims under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act…But any delay in reaching a final ruling in this case—and a stay would almost certainly cause such a delay—could impair this court’s ability to issue effective relief…in time for the 2024 election.

Back in April, the judge largely denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss the three lawsuits, thereby allowing litigation to proceed, and in July, the court denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Accordingly, the consolidated plaintiffs’ claims regarding Section 2, racial gerrymandering and intentional discrimination will all be adjudicated at trial.