AUSTIN, Texas _ U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Monday temporarily halted enforcement of a lower-court ruling that required two Texas congressional districts to be redrawn.
Responding to an appeal by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Alito halted action on the order and gave those who challenged the districts until Sept. 5 to address the points raised by Paxton's appeal.
Sept. 5 is the day the three-judge court was to hold a hearing in San Antonio on redrawing the districts, including one based in Travis County and another that includes Bastrop County. The court ruled two weeks ago that the districts were created by the Republican-controlled Legislature to intentionally discriminate against minority voters, who tend to favor Democrats.
Alito, appointed by President George W. Bush and a member of the court's conservative wing, acted alone as the justice in charge of matters arising from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Texas.
It was unclear what effect the Supreme Court's order would have on the hearing, where work was to begin on redrawing two districts:
_District 35, held by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, which the court said was gerrymandered along racial lines to eliminate a different district with significant Latino and African-American populations that consistently voted for Democrats.
The judges also said the boundaries were improperly set using race as a tool for partisan goals _ an attempt by Republicans to unseat Doggett by boosting his district's Hispanic population and extending the new district to San Antonio, making it more likely that voters would choose a Latino candidate.
_District 27, held by U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, which includes southern Bastrop County and stretches south to the Coastal Bend along the Gulf of Mexico. The court ruled that the district, which previously extended south to Brownsville and was heavily Hispanic, was improperly drawn to reduce the strength of Latino voters.
Redrawing Doggett's district could produce profound changes in Travis County, a Democratic stronghold that was broken into five congressional districts, four of them held by Republicans.
Lawyers who challenged the districts as unconstitutional have said that they expect to present plans splitting Travis County into two or three districts, giving minority voters increased voting strength that could increase Democratic representative and place some Republican incumbents in jeopardy.
