U.S. Supreme Court will examine Texas redistricting

With elections looming, the U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it will review two lower-court rulings that ordered Texas to redraw 11 political districts found to be discriminatory.

Texas officials appealed the August rulings, which invalidated two congressional districts and nine Texas House districts, saying they were intentionally formed by Republicans in the Legislature to discriminate against minority voters, who tend to favor Democrats.

Friday’s decision to combine the Texas cases and hear oral arguments in the spring came almost four months after the Supreme Court, acting on a Texas request, blocked the lower court’s efforts to begin redrawing the districts to allow time to consider whether to review the rulings.

The stakes in the case are high. Texas voters will choose candidates in the March 6 primaries according to the current districts, but the Supreme Court’s ruling is not expected until summer, when primary winners will be campaigning in advance of the November general elections.

Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/supreme-court-will-examine-texas-redistricting/n99gkH4GFXwifCAYcnuvwM/