In two separate orders, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked two lower court rulings Sept. 12 that invalidated one U.S. representative district and two state representative districts in Nueces County. The orders came in response to an appeal filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton protesting a decision in August by a three-judge panel in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio

The lower court had ruled that U.S. House District 27, currently held by Blake Farenthold (R-Corpus Christi), was drawn to dilute Hispanic votes, violating the U.S. Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act. In a separate ruling, the lower court invalidated State District 32, represented by Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi), and State District 34, held by Abel Herrero (D-Robstown), for the same reason. One other congressional district and seven other house districts in Texas were included in the two rulings.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito initially blocked action by the district court to begin redrawing districts with an order handed down in late August. He forced the three-judge panel to wait for a ruling from the full court, which voted 5-4 to stay redistricting efforts. The stay will remain in place until the court can review arguments from both sides in the six-year-old dispute.

Voting for the order were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Grosuch and Anthony Kennedy. The four votes against came from Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagen.

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