SACRAMENTO – Former Congressman George Radanovich, along with four other individuals, today filed a Petition for a Writ of Mandamus with the California Supreme Court alleging that the California Citizens Redistricting Commission violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14 Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and various provisions of the California Constitution due to the manner in which the Commission drew Congressional redistricting lines. The petition asks the Supreme Court to appoint a Special Master to draw new lines for those Congressional districts alleged to be in violation.
"California voters approved two initiatives designed to finally remove politics and backroom deals from redistricting. Unfortunately, the Citizens Redistricting Commission failed miserably in that respect by producing congressional districts so politically driven that they violate our California Constitution, the U.S. Constitution, and the Voting Rights Act," said Radanovich.
The petition focuses on three Congressional districts in L.A. County where the parties claim the Commission intentionally diluted the number of African American voters in each of the districts to protect the three congressional incumbents. The Commission had the obligation under the VRA to construct one or two of these Congressional Districts as African American majority-minority districts; they failed to do this and in so doing the Commission violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the VRA, according to the lawsuit.
Calfornia Republican Party Vice Chairman Steve Baric is the lead attorney for the group who filed the writ, although the CRP is not officially involved in the lawsuit.
Source: CA GOP
No comments:
Post a Comment