AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The nine-member Senate select committee on redistricting is planning to vote Wednesday on whether to subpoena an assistant attorney general to testify. The Department of Justice official is the author of a letter that has been cited as the reason Gov. Greg Abbott placed redistricting on the special session agenda.
The DOJ letter that was sent on July 7, addressed to Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, said the DOJ had “serious concerns regarding the legality of four of Texas’s congressional districts.” Those four districts are all currently represented by minority congressional members.
Concerns around DOJ letter
Harmeet K. Dhillon wrote the letter and Texas Democrats in both select redistricting committees are pushing for her to testify publicly about why the DOJ’s Civil Rights division believes the four districts were racially gerrymandered, even though Texas Republicans have testified that the current congressional maps were drawn race-blind.
“I want her to be able to defend their position in going after these majority minority districts,” State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D – Houston, said. She, along with Democratic state senators Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa and Borris Miles, are requesting Dhillon be subpoenaed.
A report from NBC 5 in Dallas found Paxton’s office sent a response to the DOJ saying it did not agree with the department’s interpretation of the congressional maps. Nexstar reached out to the state’s Attorney General office to ask about the reported response.
A spokesperson provided a statement from Paxton in an email that said, “I fully support Governor Abbott calling a special session for the Texas Legislature to conduct congressional redistricting to take advantage of recent changes to the legal and political landscape.”
The statement went on to say, “My office stands ready to support President Trump, Governor Abbott, and the Texas Legislature in their redistricting goals and will defend any new maps passed from challenges by the radical Left.”
Before public testimony began on Tuesday, Senate committee chair Phil King, R – Weatherford, also said he did not agree with the DOJ’s interpretation of Texas’ map.
“I don’t think the map that is in place for Congress today is discriminatory. I don’t agree with the DOJ letter but I haven’t seen their underlying facts to it,” King said.
Efforts continue to have the DOJ testify
King sent a formal invitation over the weekend to Dhillon to testify. House committee chair Cody Vasut, R – Angleton, sent another formal invitation on Sunday to Dhillon to testify in front of his chamber’s committee. Before the Senate committee began hearing testimony on Tuesday, King said his team was setting up a space in the Capitol to hold a formal meeting for Wednesday to vote on whether or not to subpoena Dhillon.
Alvarado wants to make sure that hearing is livestreamed and recorded for the public. “I think it’s extremely important that this whole process — considering its rarity, unusualness, unprecedented situation — that we be as transparent as possible,” Alvarado said on Tuesday.
Two-thirds of the committee will need to vote yes on the subpoena for it to be issued. There are only three Democratic members on the Senate committee and it’s unclear how the other six Republican senators would vote.
“I would hope that all of my colleagues want to hear from Ms. Dhillon,” Alvarado said when asked if she believes her Republican colleagues will vote in subpoenaing Dhillon. “I would think that they want to know why they’re here in the middle of the summer as well in mid-decade doing redistricting.”
Sen. King said his office is seeking legal counsel because he is unsure if the legislative committee has any power to compel a federal official or someone not in Texas to testify to their committee. Alvarado still believes the committee should still issue the subpoena and allow Dhillon or any other DOJ official the choice to testify at their discretion.
Currently there is no new map up for consideration in either redistricting committee.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
