The Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision this morning in the Texas redistricting cases:
Perry v. Perry, Nos. 11-713, 11-714, and 11-715: Texas is a “covered jurisdiction” under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, meaning that all changes to its election procedures, including the redrawing of various voting district lines following the 2010 Census, are suspended until those changes are submitted to and approved by a three-judge United States District Court for the District of Columbia, or the Attorney General. When it became likely that the State’s newly enacted plans would not receive preclearance in time for the 2012 elections, a three-judge federal district court in Texas, separately convened to hear constitutional challenges to the new plans, was asked to devise interim plans for the state’s 2012 primaries and elections, and it did so. Texas asked the Supreme Court to stay the interim plans pending an appeal, arguing that they were unnecessarily inconsistent with the state’s enacted plans. The Court granted the stay and heard expedited arguments on the appeal. Today, the Court ruled that such interim plans must be guided by the new plan enacted by the state, taking care not to incorporate any “legal defects” or any aspects of those plans that “stand a reasonable probability of failing to gain §5 preclearance.” Because it was unclear whether the lower court had followed the appropriate standards in drawing interim maps for the 2012 Texas elections, the Supreme Court vacated the orders implementing those maps and remanded for further proceedings consistent with today’s opinion.
The Court’s opinion is available
here.