SAN ANTONIO -- A federal court has found evidence of discrimination in Texas voting maps drawn by the state's Republican-controlled Legislature.

The U.S. District Court in Washington ruled in a lengthy opinion Tuesday that state prosecutors failed to show Texas lawmakers did not draw congressional and state Senate district maps "without discriminatory purposes."

Luis Vera, an attorney for the League of United Latin American Citizens, called the ruling "better late than never" and a win for his and other minority rights groups that sued the state over the maps.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott immediately vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.