Andy Taylor, attorney for the plaintiffs, said he will continue an appeal he has pending at the Texas Supreme Court, which has made no decision on whether it will hear the case. He has a response due in two weeks but plans to file sooner than that.
Taylor will also file two appeals with the local appellate courts. One will simply contest Schaffer’s ruling, requesting an “expedited” schedule for issuing a decision.
The second is basically a back-up, requesting the court order City Secretary Anna Russell to recount the number of valid signatures on the petition if it refuses to quickly rule on the first appeal.
The plaintiffs are facing a time crunch; they need a favorable ruling by mid-summer in order to meet the August deadline to qualify for the November ballot.
“We are doing everything we can to send this to voters,” Taylor said. “That’s why we’re filing multiple appeals, taking a three-prong attack.”
Geoffrey Harrison, lead attorney for the city, had a less charitable interpretation of the approach.
“Having lost the election, lost the jury verdict and lost the judge’s ruling, plaintiffs misguided appeal sounds like a continuation of their three-ring circus of discrimination, intolerance and hate,” Harrison said.
Not much to add here. According to this KUHF story
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