The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. March 13, 2017 Federal Court Rules 3 Texas Congressional Districts Drawn Illegally ------------------------------------------------------------------- In Texas, a federal court panel ruled Friday that the state's Republican-led Legislature illegally drew three congressional districts to suppress the voting power of minorities. The 2-1 ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found the state's illegal gerrymandering packed minorities into some districts and split them in others, diluting the voting power of Latinos and other nonwhite citizens. The districts were drawn in 2011, the same year then-Governor Rick Perry signed a voter ID law that was later struck down by federal courts because it discriminated against people of color. .