The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to vacate an appeals court stay of an order requiring Galveston County to adopt a new map means the 2024 election will run under a plan that a lower court judge ruled in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
The U.S. 5th Circuit has stayed a district court’s order that the county adopt a new redistricting plan to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bans racial gerrymandering.
The clarification from Chief Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman comes two days after the appeals court agreed to rehear Petteway v. Galveston County next May.
Judge Jeffrey Brown ordered the county to adopt a “least changes” political map, which preserves the nonwhite voting majority in the County Commissioner Precinct 3.
Plaintiffs in the case are seeking rapid intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court to force the county to redraw its political map in line with the Voting Rights Act. Stephen Holmes, the county commissioner at the center of the case, is up for reelection next year.