Texas redistricting remedies schedule

One day after the Supreme Court decided the Texas congressional redistricting cases (League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 05-204, is the lead case), a federal judge in Marshall, Texas, on Thursday set the schedule for remedying the parts of the new election boundaries that did not survive the Justices’ review. The Court found that District 23, running along the Texas-Mexico border, violated the Voting Rights Act because it diluted the votes of Latino voters. It is unclear how many other districts’ lines will have to be redrawn as part of the process of remedying the District 23 flaw.

U.S. District Judge T. John Ward of the Eastern District of Texas ordered all parties to file “remedial proposals” by July 14, with the filings to include “any remedial maps, statistical packages, and briefing in support of the proposals.” Responses to those proposals are due July 21, 2006, and an oral argument is set in U.S. District Court in Austin on Aug. 3. Presumably, the hearing will be before a three-judge panel. The case is LULAC v. Perry (District Court docket 03-354). The text of the document can be accessed by those with Pacer accounts.

The Court suspended the electronic filing requirements “for purposes of this case.”