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MONDAY, APRIL 08- APRIL 14, 2024
VISIT SANGABRIELSUN.COM
VOL. 13,
NO. 166
As elections loom, congressional maps challenged as discriminatory will remain in place
Metro, elected officials celebrate $900M in federal funds coming to LA
By Marilyn W. Thompson, ProPublica
By City News Service
This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
W
ith the Republicans holding just a two-vote majority in the House of Representatives, voters will go to the polls in November in at least two congressional districts that have been challenged as discriminatory against people of color. After months of delays and appeals, courts have decided in the last two weeks that the maps in South Carolina and Florida will stand, giving Republican incumbents an advantage. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take action on South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. In January 2023, a three-judge federal panel had declared it an illegal racial gerrymander that must be redrawn before another election was held. In Florida, the congressional map has faced long-running discrimination lawsuits in both state and federal courts, with one state judge ruling that a district near Jacksonville disadvantaged voters of color. A higher court overturned that judgment, but an appeal from voting rights and civil rights groups is still pending before the state Supreme Court, which has said it could be months before it rules. A decision about another contested district in Utah is pending with the state Supreme Court and seems unlikely to be resolved before the elections, according to Mark Gaber of the Campaign Legal Center, who represents plaintiffs in a partisan gerrymandering lawsuit. Put in place in 2021 after the last federal census, the controversial maps were used in multiple elections
| Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
during the 2022 election cycle. “The long, extended delays are a real problem, for voting rights and particularly for Black voters,” Gaber said. The cases illustrate how difficult it is to reverse gerrymandered voting maps. Even when lower courts find election maps illegal and give state legislatures months to make corrections, appeals and other delaying tactics can run out the clock as elections near. Federal courts have been reluctant to make mapping changes too close to elections because of a vague legal idea known as the Purcell principle, based on a 2006 court case from Arizona that found that voters may be confused by late changes in polling places or election procedures. The U.S. Supreme Court cited Purcell in 2022 when it left an illegal congressional
map in place in Alabama for midterm elections while it considered a Republican appeal. Black voters cast their ballots under a discriminatory map, and when the Supreme Court finally decided the case in 2023, it reaffirmed that Alabama’s map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and must be redrawn. A new map is now in place for 2024, which could result in the election of a second Democratic representative for the state in November. The Supreme Court made a similar call in 2022 in a Louisiana redistricting case after a federal court struck down the state’s congressional map. Voters cast ballots in 2022 under the challenged map. Since then, the state Legislature
has redrawn the map and created a second majorityBlack district that could help Democrats gain another seat in Congress. The exact cutoff for applying the Purcell principle has not been defined, but conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who has cited it in his opinions, has said the principle reflects a “bedrock tenet of election law.” The delayed rulings and actions in Alabama and Louisiana and a ruling this week in Washington state have favored Democrats. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined to stop a new state legislative map from going into effect in Washington, where a lower court had found discrimination against Latinos in the Yakima Valley. Republicans
See Congressional maps Page 24
M
etro and elected officials Wednesday celebrated nearly $900 million in federal funding for the Los Angeles region to support transportation and infrastructure projects ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. “On behalf of L.A. Metro, it is an honor to be here with leaders who have the key vision and strong focus to ensure that our region is prepared to welcome the world for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympic Games,” Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said during a Wednesday morning news conference at Exposition Park. The money comes from a congressional spending package signed into law by President Joe Biden, and from new federal grant funding. A large share of the money -$709.9 million -- will go toward two L.A. Metro projects: the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project and sections two and three of the D (Purple) Line Subway Extension Project. In addition to the $709.9 million secured through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s New Starts and Expedited Project Delivery Pilot Programs, the region will also receive $160 million in new federal grant funding through the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program and the Neighborhood Access and Equity Programs. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, noted the recently passed appropriation bills in September 2023 gave a “sneak preview” of investments coming to the L.A. area. The Purple Line subway extension is being constructed in three sections, and will connect downtown with West L.A. It is part of a broader 9-mile project that will provide a high-capacity alternative to driving for commuters. Metro anticipates receiving $165 million for section two (between Wilshire/La Cienega and Century City) and $478 million for section three (between Century City and Westwood), with all sections expected to open prior to the 2028 Olympics. The East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project will receive $66.9 million to improve connections and access to crucial destinations. The first segment of the line is a 6.7-mile at-grade alignment that will run along Van Nuys Boulevard and will include 11 new transit stations. “So today as part of the $900 million that we’re celebrating, let’s acknowledge that $140 million of federal funding is specifically targeted to reconnect communities here in Los Angeles,” Padilla said. “It was one of the first bills I introduced in 2021, Removing Barriers and Creating Legacy. It became a component of the bipartisan infrastructure law.” That particular pot of funding would improve bus services, bring online bikeshare stations and create mobility hubs that will “help the people of L.A. get around more efficiently,” he added. Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, noted there should be a shared vision for the Olympic Games to be inclusive and not exclusive. He said money to prepare the L.A. region should also be used to “right the wrongs of the past.” See Federal funds Page 24