Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a Senior Member of the House Committees on Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Budget, and the Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism Homeland Security and Investigations, and a leading voice on criminal justice reform, will attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court in Abbot v. Perez on Tuesday, April 24, 2018:

“Abbot v. Perez is an important moment for the United States Supreme Court, but not a new one. For too long, State legislatures in Texas and throughout the Nation have drawn voting districts in a manner that minimizes or marginalizes the voices of certain segments of the electorate, typically minorities and the poor. A panel of three judges sitting in San Antonio held that the districts drawn by the Texas Legislature for representation in the State Capitol, in Austin, intentionally diluted the electoral power of minorities. For representation in Congress, the panel of federal judges held that the districts drawn were racially gerrymandered, and thus unconstitutional. I urge the Supreme Court to affirm the lower court in San Antonio and direct the Texas Legislature to draw maps that affirm the principle known as “one person, one vote.”