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A bill that critics said would have consolidated the state s elected appeals court districts in favor of the GOP was withdrawn late Thursday.
Senate Bill 11 – authored by state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston – would have reduce the number of appeals court districts from 14 to seven. Supporters of the bill said it would increase judicial efficiency by equalizing the workload across the different districts. Huffman also argued that consolidating the court districts would reduce the transfer of cases from one appellate district to another.
But Rice University political scientist Mark Jones called the bill an extreme attempt at partisan gerrymandering.