AUSTIN, Texas _ The Texas attorney general asked the U.S. Supreme Court Friday to reverse a lower court ruling that ordered nine of Texas' statehouse districts redrawn after they were found to be discriminatory.
In August, a three-judge panel in a federal district court in San Antonio ruled that parts of Texas' Statehouse maps were discriminatory and ordered nine districts in four counties redrawn. The state appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which blocked the lower court's ruling in September.
"We're eager for the Supreme Court to review all the facts in this case, which are clearly on our side," Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a news release. "The portion of the House redistricting map invalidated by the lower court is the map the same court drew and approved in 2012 before the Legislature adopted it in 2013. It's been used in the last three election cycles in Texas, and there is no sound reason for that to change."
The panel of federal judges ordered the state in 2012 to redraw the districts and provided a map for lawmakers to use as a template.
In 2013, the Legislature adopted a new congressional map based on the court's suggestion, so the state argues it cannot be discriminatory. But the plaintiffs in the legal battle over the maps claim that the state did the bare minimum to address the discriminatory issues the court identified and did not take into account other suggestions to correct the map, leaving the new map with the same problems as the original. The three-judge panel sided with the plaintiffs.
Paxton's appeal followed a similar request on Texas' congressional maps this month. In August, the three-judge panel in San Antonio invalidated two congressional districts �� one in Central Texas and the other in Corpus Christi �� and ordered them redrawn. Paxton has also asked for that order to be reversed.
The court's decision could have serious political consequences. Redrawing the maps as the lower courts have ordered would give black and Hispanic voters more influence in elections, which could lead to more statehouse and congressional seats for Democrats in Republican-dominated Texas.
So far, the state has thwarted all challenges to its maps. When the Supreme Court sided with the state to block both of the lower court's rulings in September, it essentially guaranteed that no changes would be made before the 2018 midterm elections, in which Democrats hoped to win more seats from newly drawn districts.
