On January 23, the voter-plaintiffs submitted a response in Perez v State of Texas, the Texas redistricting case that is in 3-judge U.S. District Court in San Antonio. That court had asked them to respond to the state’s idea that the status conference in this case be on an earlier date than February 1.
The voter-plaintiffs say the same attorneys who are representing them in San Antonio are also representing them in the 3-judge court in Washington, D.C., which is holding a trial on whether the legislature’s plan violates the Voting Rights Act. Therefore, they say it is entirely impractical to have proceedings in both courts simultaneously this week. They request that the status conference in San Antonio continue to be set for February 1.
The Democratic Party of Texas also filed a document in San Antonio on January 23. The Democratic Party filing says, “The Texas Democratic Party has and continues to support a unified primary insofar as it is possible. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court ruling in this case seems to require substantial additional work from counsel to this case and from this Court, in particular. The members of the Court are best able to determine what and when they can accomplish in terms of reviewing the evidence, preparing interim maps and issuing opinions to support each interim map. The Texas Democratic Party is prepared to work with all parties with respect to the preparation of an election schedule once it is known when district maps will be available.” This is very vague, but seems to hint that perhaps Texas should hold two primaries, one for president, U.S. Senate, and local partisan office; and one for U.S. House and state legislature.