Justice Alito temporarily blocks order to redraw Texas congressional district lines

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr. Photographer: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

On Monday, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito agreed to grant a request from state officials to block a lower court order calling for two of Texas’ 36 congressional districts to be redrawn.

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That ruling stated that state lawmakers drew congressional districts to purposefully weaken the voting strength of minority voters, specifically Hispanic voters. The districts in question are held by Rep. Blake Farenthold (R) and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D), according to The Hill.

RELATED: Feds Say Texas Drew Congressional Districts to Discriminate Against Minorities, Twice

The August 15 ruling gave legislators a choice to either hold their own special session and redraw the maps themselves, or appear in court on September 5 with cartographers, their staff, and proposed plans for new maps which would then be considered by the court.

Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that the state’s deadline was “impossible” to meet given the amount of paperwork that lawmakers were expected to procure by the first of October, including voter registration certificates for 254 counties. Paxton argued there wouldn’t be enough time to mail the certificates out to everyone.

“After years of deliberation, the district court waited until a mere seven weeks before the October 1 deadline before declaring that the remedial map that was ordered by the court and governed the last three elections had latent statutory and constitutional defects,” read a statement prepared by state lawmakers.

RELATED: Citing Texas for Coloring Outside the Lines, a Federal Court is Ordering the State House to Redraw its Congressional Map

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