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Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, et al., Appellants v. Shannon Perez, et al.

Paid petition · United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, No. SA-11-CV-360 · judgment August 15, 2017

Decided · June 25, 2018
Pre-decision estimate: 56% cert probability (95% interval 34%–75%)

Before the decision, about 13.5× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a direct appeal from a three-judge district court (mandatory jurisdiction), a petition filed soon after the judgment below, and a state or local-government petitioner.

Questions presented

Consolidated with 17-626.

  1. Whether the district court issued an appealable interlocutory injunction when it invalidated Texas' duly enacted redistricting plan and ordered the parties to appear at a remedial hearing to redraw state congressional districts unless the Governor called a special legislative session to redraw the congressional map within three days.

  2. Whether the Texas Legislature acted with an unlawful purpose when it enacted a redistricting plan originally imposed by the district court to remedy any potential constitutional and statutory defects in a prior legislative plan that was repealed without ever having taken effect.

  3. Whether the Texas Legislature engaged in intentional vote dilution when it adopted Congressional District 27 in 2013 after the district court found, in 2012, that CD27 did not support a plausible claim of racially discriminatory purpose and did not dilute Hispanic voting strength because it was not possible to create an additional Hispanic opportunity district in the region;

  4. Whether the Legislature engaged in racial gerrymandering in Congressional District 35 when it simply adopted the district unchanged as part of the court-ordered remedial plan.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Scott A. Keller
Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
4 cert-stage

Related
Vide, 17-626

Argument & decision

Argued April 24, 2018 — Scott A. Keller · Edwin S. Kneedler · Max Renea Hicks · Allison J. .... Audio and transcript

Decided June 25, 2018. Opinion by Alito.

Proceedings

  1. Jul 27 2018
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Jun 25 2018
    Judgment REVERSED, and case REMANDED. Alito, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kennedy, Thomas, and Gorsuch, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which Gorsuch, J., joined. Sotomayor, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan, JJ., joined. VIDED. (No. 17-626, Judgment REVERSED IN PART, AFFIRMED IN PART, and case REMANDED).
  3. Apr 24 2018
    Argued. For appellants: Scott A. Keller, Solicitor General of Texas, Austin, Tex. For appellee United States in support of appellants: Edwin S. Kneedler, Deputy Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For appellees in 17-586: Max Renea Hicks, Austin, Tex. For appellees in 17-626: Allison J. Riggs, Durham, N. C. VIDED
  4. Apr 17 2018
    Reply of appellee United States in support of appellants filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  5. Apr 17 2018
    Reply of appellants Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, et al. filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  6. Apr 13 2018
    Motion of the Solicitor General for divided argument and the motion of appellees for enlargement of time for oral argument and for divided argument are granted, and the time is divided as follows: 25 minutes for appellants, 10 minutes for the Solicitor General in support of appellants, 15 minutes for appellees in No. 17-586, and 20 minutes for appellees in No. 17-626.
  7. Apr 04 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Common Cause and The Voting Rights Institute filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  8. Apr 04 2018
    Brief amici curiae of Campaign Legal Center; Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  9. Mar 28 2018
    Brief of appellees Perez, et al. (Congressional Districts) filed (No. 17-586). (Distributed)
  10. Mar 28 2018
    Brief of appellees Perez, et al. (State House Districts) filed (No. 17-626). (Distributed)
  11. Mar 23 2018
    Motion for divided argument filed by the Solicitor General. VIDED.
  12. Mar 07 2018
    CIRCULATED
  13. Mar 05 2018
    Brief amici curiae of States of Louisiana, Alabama, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, and Wisconsin filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  14. Feb 26 2018
    Brief of appellants Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, et al. filed. VIDED.
  15. Feb 26 2018
    Brief of appellee United States in support of appellants filed. VIDED.
  16. Feb 26 2018
    Joint appendix filed. VIDED
  17. Feb 23 2018
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. VIDED
  18. Feb 06 2018
    Application (17A825) granted by Justice Alito for leave to file appellants' brief on the merits and the reply brief on the merits in excess of the word limits. VIDED
  19. Feb 02 2018
    Application (17A825) for leave to file appellants' brief on the merits and the reply brief on the merits in excess of the word limits, submitted to Justice Alito. VIDED
  20. Feb 01 2018
    Blanket Consent filed by appellants, Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, et al. VIDED
  21. Jan 31 2018
    Joint Blanket Consent filed by appellees, Shannon Perez, et al., and appellees, Mexican American Legislative Caucus, filed. VIDED
  22. Jan 30 2018
    Joint motion for divided argument and enlargement of time for oral argument filed by appellees. VIDED
  23. Jan 12 2018
    Further consideration of the question of jurisdiction is POSTPONED to the hearing of the case on the merits. Further consideration of the question of jurisdiction in No. 17-626 is postponed to the hearing of the case on the merits. The cases are consolidated and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument.
  24. Jan 12 2018
    Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 17-586. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 17-586. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the flings is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.”
  25. Jan 08 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/12/2018.
  26. Dec 20 2017
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/5/2018.
  27. Dec 04 2017
    Reply of appellants Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, et al. filed.
  28. Nov 20 2017
    Motion to dismiss or affirm and supplemental appendix filed by appellees Eddie Rodriguez, et al.
  29. Nov 20 2017
    Brief amici curiae of States of Louisiana, Alabama, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, and Wisconsin filed.
  30. Oct 17 2017
    Statement as to jurisdiction filed. (Response due November 20, 2017)
  31. Oct 17 2017
    Appendix of Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, et al. filed.