Justice Department sues Galveston County over map eliminating Black-Latino district

The Justice Department sues Galveston County, Texas, on March 24, 2022, alleging that the county's redistricting plan violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The department says the plan dismantles the county's only precinct where Black and Latino voters together had an opportunity to elect their preferred candidate. County officials defend the map and argue that coalition districts are not protected in the way the department claims. The case later becomes a major test for multiracial coalition voting-rights claims. Local redistricting can weaken Black and Latino political power after the 2020 census.