Redistricting challenge

Here’s some good news from the Supreme Court today which is looking into the Republican mid-term re-redistricting scheme in Texas.

According to the AP:
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy was the key swing voter in that (previous redistricting) case, and on Wednesday expressed concerns about at least part of the Texas map.

In that previous case, the justices voted 5-4 to throw out a gerrymandered map with Kennedy serving as the swing vote joining Breyer, Souter, Stevens and Ginsberg.
The two new justices on the court, Roberts and Alito, could only make a difference if they surprise everyone and side with the forces of righteousness and goodness. That’s because they replaced justices Rehnquist and O’Connor who both crossed over to the Dark Side on this issue.

If Kennedy’s concerns cause him to vote the same way this time it should mean that at least part of Tom DeLay’s map could be scrapped regardless of how Roberts and Alito vote.

Jeffrey Toobin had an in depth analysis in The New Yorker recently which SCOTUSBlog conveniently made available in pdf format.