Dan Eggen of the Washington Post provide's today frontpage bombshell:

Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal
Voting Rights Finding On Map Pushed by DeLay Was Overruled

Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan.

The memo, unanimously endorsed by six lawyers and two analysts in the department's voting section, said the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts. It also said the plan eliminated several other districts in which minorities had a substantial, though not necessarily decisive, influence in elections.

The memo also found that Republican lawmakers and state officials who helped craft the proposal were aware it posed a high risk of being ruled discriminatory compared with other options.

But the Texas legislature proceeded with the new map anyway because it would maximize the number of Republican federal lawmakers in the state, the memo said. The redistricting was approved in 2003, and Texas Republicans gained five seats in the U.S. House in the 2004 elections, solidifying GOP control of Congress.

The 73-page memo, dated Dec. 12, 2003, has been kept under tight wraps for two years. Lawyers who worked on the case were subjected to an unusual gag rule. The memo was provided to The Post by a person connected to the case who is critical of the adopted redistricting map. Such recommendation memos, while not binding, historically carry great weight within the Justice Department.


What you have here is yet another case (much like the recent FDA/Morning After Pill case) of the career staff making a decision (in this case a unanimous decision) only to be overruled by political appointees. In an unusual move, the justice department lawyers who worked on this case were under a strict gag rule not to talk about the case. However, one of them (obviously) leaked this stuff to the Post.

Another ding in the administration's armor? Let's hope so. It certainly doesn't make things any better for them. This whole redistricting thing that DeLay pulled off was such bullshit. It's good to see someone is still trying to beat it back. Maybe they'll uncover some good, juicy bits of (illegal) political quid-pro-quo that prompted the Justice Dept. brass to make this happen.

Man, I bet for years to come there is going to be ALL KINDS of dirt washed out about this administration.

I got all my eBay shit up last night. Fucking 218 items. Ugh.

Dan Froomkin hammers away at the latest Downing St. memo about Bush wanting to bomb al-Jazeera. Froomkin expresses dismay that US reporters have only publicly asked about the memo TWICE since the story came out. The second time came in this incredible exchange with McClellan on Wednesday:

"Q I know you've been asked before about the so-called al-Jazeera memo, but Europeans are making quite a big deal about it. Can you assure them that even if the President did say what he was alleged to have said he was doing that in jest?
"MR. McCLELLAN: Can I assure them what?
"Q That if the President really did make those comments, he was doing so in jest?
"MR. McCLELLAN: Make what comments?
"Q About allegedly bombing al Jazeera --
"MR. McCLELLAN: Any such notion that we would engage in that kind of activity is just absurd.
"Q Well, do you know if the comments were made?
"MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know what comments you're referring to. I haven't seen any comments quoted.
"Q Somebody said that they had a memo, or that they took notes during --
"MR. McCLELLAN: Let me just repeat for you, Connie. Any such notion that America would do something like that is absurd."

The reporter then pointed out that in 2001, American bombs exploded in al-Jazeera's Kabul bureau, which the Pentagon later said was not on purpose.

"Q They bomb them in Afghanistan then -- their office.
"MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry? Whose offices? The terrorist offices.
"Q We bombed their office in Afghanistan, and killed their -- some of their people in --
"MR. McCLELLAN: And the military talked about that. What are you suggesting? I hope you're not suggesting that they're targeting civilians, because that's just flat-out wrong."

Froomkin then asks and comments:

Butwhy won't McClellan say the same about the report of the Bush-Blair meeting, too?

And where were the follow-up questions? Nobody in the briefing room pursued the issue any further, and nobody even said one word about al-Jazeera at yesterday's briefing .

By contrast, the corps was downright dogged yesterday when it came to rooting out the details of Bush's summons to jury duty in Crawford. Now there's a big story.

R.I.P. Jim MacLean.


Elmer
Vero Beach Women's Center, Vero Beach, FL
21 March 1998

Jim was a fixture of the '80s Sacramento punk scene and later, of the Portland scene. He and his brother Hal were in Sewer Trout and later Jim fronted the country-punk band Elmer. He committed suicide earlier this week.

More information here and here.