U.S. Supreme Court Hears Case of Texas Redistricting Maps

(WBAP/KLIF) – Attorney General Ken Paxton commended Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller and a top lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice after they presented oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, in defense of Texas redistricting maps.

Last year, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court in San Antonio invalidated two of Texas 36 congressional districts and multiple state House districts. Attorney General Paxton appealed the rulings to the high court, which blocked them from taking effect until it could hear the case today.

In 2012, a 9-0 U.S. Supreme Court ordered the U.S. District Court in San Antonio to draw interim maps that do not violate the Constitution or the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court repeated that command to draw lawful maps six times in its opinion,” said Paxton. “Once the district court had redrawn those maps in accordance with the Supreme Courts directive, the district court explained in exhaustive detail how it satisfied every plausible constitutional or statutory objection and the maps were not purposefully discriminatory. Many people, including myself, assumed that the state was putting the issue to rest when the Texas Legislature adopted the maps that the district court had drawn.”

Because the redistricting case involved two rulings, the Supreme Court expanded oral arguments at Tuesday’s hearing to 35 minutes for each side. Solicitor General Keller argued Texas side for 25 minutes and yielded the remainder of his time to a top lawyer for the Department of Justice, which asked Attorney General Paxton for the opportunity to join in defending the state. When the Supreme Court put the lower court decisions on hold last September, it meant that no changes to Texas redistricting maps would be made ahead of the midterm elections. Attorney General Paxton argued at the time that allowing maps to be redrawn would throw the Texas election deadlines into chaos for the second time this decade.

A decision from the high court is expected this summer.