Retired California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso speaks at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. The Obama administration is aggressively pursuing lawsuits over minority voting rights in Texas and North Carolina, but the Justice Department has sat on evidence that the latest round of redistricting in Los Angeles County unfairly reduces the influence of Latino voters. “I support the Obama administration and the president, but frankly, Obama and the top people around him seem to be unaware on this issue. Obama is somewhat blind to the issues of Latinos,” said Reynoso, who is also a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Reynoso said the administration seems more attuned to voting-rights complaints of African-Americans.WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is aggressively pursuing lawsuits over minority voting rights in Texas and North Carolina, but the Justice Department has not moved on evidence that the latest round of redistricting in Los Angeles County unfairly reduces the influence of Latino voters.
Nearly half the 10 million people in the nation’s largest county are Latino. But political boundaries redrawn in 2011 make it possible for Latino voters to elect just one of the five supervisors.
The administration has resisted calls to sue the county, despite the county’s history of discrimination against Latino voters in earlier redistricting efforts.
The inaction rankles some Latino activists who count themselves as strong backers of President Barack Obama.
“I support the Obama administration and the president, but frankly, Obama and the top people around him seem to be unaware on this issue. Obama is somewhat blind to the issues of Latinos,” said Cruz Reynoso, a former California Supreme Court justice and member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Reynoso said the administration seems more attuned to voting rights complaints of African-Americans.