A federal court on Tuesday agreed with the Department of Justice that redistricted voter maps in Texas did not comply with the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and that the effort by the Republican-controlled state legislature was an attempt to deprive or diminish the ability of minorities -- most Latinos -- of their right to an election free of racial discrimination.

US attorney general Eric Holder said the proposed changes were part of a larger attack on civil rights. (Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images) Three separate maps, for new districts for the US House and the Texas Senate and House, violated the Voting Rights Act, according to the three-judge panel of the US District Court in Washington, DC, because they "have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color, or language minority group."