Texas trial -- on or off, one week or till Easter
The Houston Chronicle reports on two questions about when and how long the Texas redistricting trial will be.
Democratic and minority plaintiffs said Tuesday they will ask a federal court to delay Thursday's scheduled start of a congressional redistricting trial if the U.S. Justice Department has not ruled on the legality of new Texas district maps by then.The redistricting plan passed by Republican lawmakers in October is subject to a legal review by the Justice Department for compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act.
The department has until Dec. 22 to complete its review.
...
Lawyers for both sides said the trial will take about seven days, predicting a finish around Dec. 19.
[Judge John] Ward asked the lawyers to substantially reduce their list of witnesses. The lawyers gave the judges a list of 83 witnesses they plan to call at trial.
"If you called all of them on your will-call list, maybe we'd be out of here by Easter," Ward said.
Thanks to Jim Dedman for the link.