John Bogna
On Tuesday, a previous order handed down by a Texas state court requiring lawmakers to redraw some of its districts earlier this year was blocked by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).
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The state ruling in question held certain Texas congressional districts organized in 2010 were purposefully drawn to disadvantage minority voters – a holding SCOTUS disagreed with.
Texas’ ruling stated the use of these maps constituted “a litigation strategy designed to insulate the 2011 or 2013 plans from further challenge, regardless of their legal infirmities.”
Temporary districts were made in 2012 and adopted in 2013, but the districts were never officially redrawn; the 2012 maps were adopted under similar circumstances to the present, with an election looming in the near future, but were never meant to be permanently used.
According to the New York Times, the latest High Court ruling in the back-and-forth case makes it more likely Texas’ 2018 elections will continue to use the districts the state found to be outdated and discriminatory.
Ultimately, the SCOTUS decision was 5-4 in favor of blocking the ruling while the state’s appeal in the case is considered.
RELATED: Justice Alito Temporarily Blocks Order to Redraw Texas Congressional Districts
Originally the state gave lawmakers until October 1 to submit new maps, but the appeal request submitted to the Supreme Court described the deadline as arbitrary and unnecessarily constricting.
This is a developing story.
