Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Texas Asks Supreme Court to Stop Court-Ordered Maps

Photo illustration by Todd Wiseman / Chris Chang, Texas Tribune

The state's lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop elections under court-ordered redistricting maps today, saying the federal judges who drew the maps improperly disregarded the wishes of the Legislature.

Candidates started filing for the March 6 primaries this morning. The filing from Attorney General Greg Abbott asks the high court to freeze the election, saying the primary could be put off if necessary.

"If delaying primary elections for the Texas House is necessary to preserve this Court's jurisdiction and allow for thorough appellate review, the State respectfully requests that the Court stay the primary elections for the Texas House," the attorneys wrote. They suggest the elections could be held instead on May 22.

  • REFERENCE MATERIAL
State Appeal to SCOTUS: House Appendix
PDF (781.3 KB)download
State Appeal to SCOTUS: Senate Appendix
PDF (329.9 KB)download
State Appeal to SCOTUS on Court-Ordered Map: Senate
PDF (212.1 KB)download
State Appeal to SCOTUS on Court-Ordered Map: House
PDF (257.8 KB)download

Ross Ramsey is managing editor of The Texas Tribune and continues as editor of Texas Weekly, the premier newsletter on government and politics in the Lone Star State, a role he's had since September 1998. Texas Weekly was a print-only journal when he took the reins in 1998; he switched it to a subscription-based, internet-only journal by the end of 2004 without a significant loss in subscribers. As Texas Weekly's primary writer for 11 years, he turned out roughly 2 million words in more than 500 editions, added an online library of resources and documents and items of interest to insiders, and a daily news clipping service that links to stories from papers across Texas. Before joining Texas Weekly in September 1998, Ramsey was associate deputy comptroller for policy with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, also working as the agency's director of communications. Prior to that 28-month stint in government, Ramsey spent 17 years in journalism, reporting for the Houston Chronicle from its Austin bureau and for the Dallas Times Herald, first on the business desk in Dallas and later as the paper's Austin bureau chief. Prior to that, as a Dallas-based freelance business writer, he wrote for regional and national magazines and newspapers. Ramsey got his start in journalism in broadcasting, working for almost seven years covering news for radio stations in Denton and Dallas.