(More great coverage from Michael Li. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
As expected, the State of Texas asked the U.S. Supreme Court today to block the interim state house and senate maps approved last week by a San Antonio federal court.
A similar request for a stay on the interim congressional map is expected shortly.
In his papers, Abbott suggests that the primaries for state house and state senate (and presumably Congress as well) be moved to May 22, the date scheduled for primary runoffs. The state says that the primary for local and county races and the State Board of Education should remain March 6.
It's not clear under the state's proposal when runoff elections would be if legislative primaries are moved to the end of May, but compliance with the law on military ballots would put a runoff in mid-July- not a lot of time for candidates to raise more money and begin campaigning for the general election.
State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, chair of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus, wasted no time in blasting Abbott's move:
Today, Attorney General Greg Abbott applied for an emergency stay of the maps from the United States Supreme Court, once again, putting the 2012 election cycle in jeopardy. The leadership in the legislature chose to ignore overwhelming Latino growth in our state and refused to adhere to the Voting Rights Act, now the courts have had to step in and apply the law.
The leadership of Texas defaulted on their opportunity to enact fair and legal legislative maps. Instead, they sought to expand their politcal power on the backs of African American, Latino, and Asian American Texans. To date, six federal juges have rejected Attorney General Abbott's fiction that Texas' redistricting maps comply with the law and should be implemented for Texas elections.
This evening Justice Scalia asked redistricting plaintiffs to submit file responses by 4 p.m. this Thursday, December 1. Except a ruling from the court to come perhaps as early as Friday.
Oh, this tidbit being reported by the Texas Tribune, apparently Abbott has bolstered his legal team by bringing in outside lawyers:
Abbott hired Paul Clement, a noted Supreme Court advocate, to help his office with the case (at a rate of $520 an hour, which he called "a steep discount").
Clement, who was solicitor general under George W. Bush, looks to be busy. As reported in the New York Times:
At the moment, he is defending both Arizona's tough new law against illegal immigration and Congress's prohibition against federal recognition of same-sex marriages. And if, as expected, the Supreme Court soon announces that it will hear a challenge to last year's health care law, it seems increasingly likely that it will be Mr. Clement who argues, in the thick of the 2012 campaign, that President Obama's signature domestic achievement is unconstitutional.
Here are the state's filings:
State senate:
http://tinyurl.com/824pz9e
State house:
http://tinyurl.com/c25z5sa
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