TEXAS REDISTRICTING & ELECTION LAW

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott spoke to the Texas Tribune on Monday afternoon about his efforts to block the interim legislative maps drawn by the San Antonio panel.  

You can find the Tribune’s coverage here:

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-redistricting/redistricting/abbott-elections-should-use-legislatures-maps/

In his interview with the Tribune, Abbott says that even if the Supreme Court refuses to grant a stay that he will aggressively pursue the preclearance case in D.C. as a second avenue for throwing out the interim maps and forcing the San Antonio panel to draw new ones.  

It’s not entirely clear how that squares with the position he is taking in the Supreme Court, where he is arguing that a failure to stay the maps would effectively end the case. 

Indeed, a requirement of a stay is a showing of ‘irreparable’ harm - something Abbott seemingly undercuts his case for by arguing to the press that he has a viable second path for getting what he wants.

It’s a tricky needle for Abbott to thread in other ways as well. As support for his stay request, Abbott’s Supreme Court brief cites to a portion of Judge Smith’s dissent where he talks about how the case would be over because the interim maps would become the new benchmark for measuring retrogression- presumably the exact opposite of the position Abbott would want to take before the D.C. court.

All that can be said at this point is stay tuned.