High court rejects Texas Democrats’ gerrymandering complaint

The U.S. Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal from the Texas Democratic Party charging that the Republican-controlled Legislature illegally gerrymandered the state’s electoral maps.

The nation’s high court said Tuesday that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the complaint.

Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Texas’ appeal to preserve two congressional districts and statehouse districts affecting four counties that a lower court struck down as racially discriminatory.

The lower court had ordered the districts redrawn for the 2018 elections, but the Supreme Court previously blocked those orders. Texas primary elections are set for March 6 under the existing, challenged maps.

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said there should be future chances for legal challenges, saying the party “will proceed with its partisan gerrymander claim at the next opportunity.”