Some breaking news from the Lone Star Project:
The three-judge Federal District Court has issued an order and provided a schedule for determining a remedy in response to the recently released opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court on Texas redistricting.
You can view the Court’s order here (PDF)
The Schedule is below
July 14, 2006 – All parties (plaintiffs and defendants) required to file remedial proposals including briefs and proposed maps.
July 21, 2006 – responses to remedial proposals must be filed.
August 3, 2006 – 9:00 a.m. – Oral arguments on proposals before the three-judge panel in Austin, Texas
Assuming it doesn’t take more than a couple of weeks for the court to render a decision, I believe there would be sufficient time to declare an open primary for November and set a filing deadline for some time in September. Needless to say, this would be a ridiculously short campaign, and would heavily favor incumbents. As all other options include allowing the illegal CD23 to remain intact for this election, it’s the best of a bad lot. At least a November open primary would have a normal level of turnout. We’ll see how it goes.
So does this guarantee new lines for November, a la 1996? That is, this year’s election in Texas will definitely go off of a legal, new map instead of postponing changes till 2008?
“Guarantee” is too strong a word. I think this means there’s a chance of new lines for November, but I’m not prepared to bet on it just yet.