Supreme Court Considers Stay on Texas District Maps
The battle over Texas' redistricting has reached the Supreme Court. Photo courtesy S.E.B. at http://www.flickr.com/photos/brendel/Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay to block the use of State House and Senate maps drawn by a three-judge panel.
Today is the first day of candidate filing in Texas, and the maps are now the basis for where candidates can run.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who is reviewing the request, asked the plaintiffs in the case, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, to submit additional information so the full court can decide whether to grant the stay.
The fund’s legislative staff attorney, Luis Figueroa, says delaying the maps now will disrupt the state’s election process.
“That stay will result in primaries being delayed,” Figueroa said. “These primaries allow Texas to be relevant in the primary system in the Republican and Democratic process. And I think it’s important to note that the Attorney General never offered an alternate map in any of the litigation. They only offered the state map.”
Abbott says the stay is needed, arguing that the judges that drew the interim maps disregarded the will of the Legislature.
