SCOTUSblog by Amy Howe 8/25/2017
In June, the Supreme Court agreed to review a ruling by a three-judge federal district court striking down the redistricting plan that Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature adopted after the 2010 census. Today the state of Texas asked the Supreme Court to step into another redistricting dispute, this time a long-running battle over that state’s congressional redistricting plan: In an emergency filing, Texas officials urged the justices to put a federal district court’s order invalidating two districts in the current plan on hold while they appeal to the Supreme Court.
Much like the Wisconsin case, the Texas dispute centers on the state’s efforts to draw new maps after the 2010 census. In 2012, a federal district court adopted an interim redistricting plan for the Texas’ congressional districts after a 2011 plan enacted by the Texas legislature was challenged as violations of the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. In 2013, the Texas legislature adopted that interim plan in its entirety, and the state’s governor signed it into law.
Earlier this month, however, the district court struck down two districts in the 2013 plan. Noting that the two districts remained the same as under the 2011 plan, it concluded that one of those districts intentionally diluted the votes of Hispanic residents, while the other focused too heavily on race. It indicated that it had only intended the 2013 plan to be used as “interim maps, given the severe time constraints it was operating under at the time of their adoption.” The district court gave Texas Governor Greg Abbott a choice: either call a special session of the legislature to come up with new maps or return to court on September 5 with experts and proposed plans for new maps.
More:
http://www.scotusblog.com/2017/08/texas-asks-supreme-court-intervene-redistricting-battle/#more-259986
