Following the U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments for the Evenwel v. Abbott case, which may affect non-eligible voters’ representation, the Democratic presidential candidates have called on the highest court to make the right call.

On Dec. 8, the Supreme Court heard Texas resident Sue Evenwel's lawsuit to allow electoral districts to only represent eligible voters instead of the general population.

According to Roger C. Rocha Jr., national president for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the case is "extremely important" for Latinos. LULAC, among other Latino, African American, LGBT and human rights organizations noted in an amicus brief that nearly 55 percent of the U.S. Latino population would be excluded from representation if only eligible voters were accounted for.

"The U.S. Constitution requires congressional districts to be allocated based on census population data, ensuring that everyone is counted. Rejecting this constitutionally mandated approach in favor of one that only counts voter population would result in significantly fewer Latinos being counted," Rocha Jr. said in a statement. "The impact of such an approach is clear: there would be a serious reduction in valuable resources to high-need communities and less Latino political representation."

"We call upon the Supreme Court to maintain the present system which is both constitutional and fundamentally fair," added the LULAC national president.

After the Supreme Court heard the oral arguments, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said a ruling in favor of Evenwel would also risk representation for children and non-citizen permanent legal residents. Clinton said the case if an affront to Americans who have successfully challenged for equal rights.

"This change would mean that many in America, including children and non-citizen residents, would no longer be counted for purposes of representation in every state in the country. Such measures are an insult to the millions of Americans who have fought throughout our history for our country to achieve equality and justice for all people. The Supreme Court should protect political equality and turn away this harmful and reckless attempt to write off so many."

Fellow Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' campaign also issued a statement through its Latino outreach director, Arturo Carmona. According to Carmona, a fair representation system must be preserved and does not hinder on communities of color and children.

"Evenwel tragically makes invisible a large segment of the American people, including young people under 18. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Latinos are the nation's youngest ethnic group. As a result, areas with large Latino populations will be adversely impacted when it comes to representation in state legislatures," said Carmona.

Taking a swipe at Republicans, he later added, "Once again, we have people trying to rig the electoral system to try to dictate an outcome in favor of the right wing. Why don't far right Republicans in Texas have the courage to run on the merits of their ideology instead of trying to take representation away from others?"

A statement from the third Democratic presidential candidate, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, was not returned to Latin Post.

A decision in the Evenwel v. Abbott case is expected by June 2016.

__

For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.