Supreme Court Justices’ Texas Redistricting Ruling Likely to Help G.O.P.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday instructed a lower court in Texas to take a fresh look at election maps it had drawn in place of a competing set of maps from the Texas Legislature. The justices said the lower court had not paid enough deference to the Legislature’s choices and seemed to have improperly substituted its own values for those of elected officials.
The court’s unanimous decision, interpreted as a victory for Texas Republicans, extended the uncertainty surrounding this major voting-rights case, one that could play a role in determining control of the House of Representatives.
“A district court should take guidance from the state’s recently enacted plan in drafting an interim plan,” the Supreme Court’s unsigned decision said. “That plan reflects the state’s policy judgments on where to place new districts and how to shift existing ones in response to massive population growth.”
Justice Clarence Thomas concurred only in the result and said he would have instructed the elections to proceed under the Legislature’s maps.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/us/supreme-court-rejects-judge-drawn-maps-in-texas-redistricting-case.html?pagewanted=print