SUPREME COURT/VOTING: “The Supreme Court announced Friday [1-12-18] that it plans to hear a significant voting rights case, agreeing to review a lower court opinion that invalidated congressional and statehouse maps in Texas.
The order adds another case touching on voting disputes to the court’s docket at a time when the justices are already considering cases concerning partisan gerrymandering and the purge of voter rolls in Ohio.
The justices have already indicated they might be split down ideological lines in the case because last fall they voted 5-4 to freeze the lower court opinion until they decided whether to take up the case.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented from that order. As things stand, the Supreme Court’s order means that the current maps will probably be used in the 2018 election, but no final determination has been made.
The case highlights a dispute that has been embroiled in the courts for almost a decade…
After a trial in 2017, the district Court then invalidated two districts of Plan C235 holding that one was enacted with discriminatory intent and the other contained was an impermissible racial gerrymander. The Court noted that ‘specific portions’ of the 2011 plans that were found to be discriminatory or unconstitutional ‘continue unchanged.’ In a similar case the court also invalidated eight state legislative districts… The court did not say when it will hear the case.”
-Ariane de Vogue, “Supreme Court takes up Texas redistricting case,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Jan. 12, 2018 03:33pm