The Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday morning dismissing the Texas Democratic Party’s partisan gerrymandering claim for want of jurisdiction.
The State of Texas had argued in pleadings that the district court’s dismissal of the TDP’s partisan gerrymandering claims did not amount to the granting or denial of an injunction and, therefore, that the ruling did not fall into the class of orders appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1253. Alternatively, the state argued that if the ruling could somehow be construed as a denial of injunctive relief, the appeal was untimely under 28 U.S.C. § 2101(b) which requires interlocutory appeals to be filed within 30 days of the grant or denial of injunctive relief.
Today’s ruling, however, does not necessarily dispose of the TDP’s partisan gerrymandering claim. The claim still would be appealable once the court enters final judgment in the case – after other appeals are resolved. Or, of course, the plaintiffs or other voters could simply file a new partisan gerrymandering case once decisions in the Wisconsin and Maryland cases come down this summer.
