Gerrymandering, the act of arranging voter districts to favor the party in power, usually in the state legislature, has been occuring since the founding of political parties in the United States. Texas Republicans wanted to consolidate their power in the state by creating as many districts as possible in conservative areas while concentrating the Democrat's strength into as few districts as legally possible. The result was that you got some of the most irregularly shaped districts in the country. Minorities who usually vote Democratic were squeezed out of conservative districts and packed into heavily liberal districts. What the Republicans did was perfectly legal, the governor and the state legislature had the right to call a special session just to fix the lines. The Democrats did it to the Republicans ten years ago, that's the way politics goes. Truth be told, there were too many Democrats representing Texas considering it's voting patters, there are no Democrats holding statewide office and the state legislature has gone Republican. The Democrats protest was just sour grapes because they lost their power. For national Democrats, the Texas Redistricting plan will make it much more difficult for them to gain back the House of Representatives. Texas will give the GOP anywhere between 6-8 seats. Of course ideally re-districting would be done by a bi-partisan court much like in Iowa and Arizona. They draw out districts that don't consider party affiliation but rather represent local interests. Some Congressmen in safe districts become complacent and don't go home to tend to local interests. This will also help moderate the poltical debate, being that they have to appeal to a more diverse electorate.

Good! Gerrymandering ought to be a crime, because it basically stacks the deck in favor of the incumbent party. This wasn't just something the Democrats believed in as a matter of principle, it actively threatened their survival, so they really had no choice.

The media reported this event as if it were a Keystone Kops episode. In truth it was heartening to see a group of politicians take a stand for something they believed in.