Opinion ID: 2335528
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Speaker Laney and Del Rio and Cotera, et al.

Text: Speaker Laney and the Del Rio and Cotera Plaintiffs contend that all the appellants raise only factually based arguments that this Court does not have jurisdiction to consider. Specifically, they contend appellants' arguments that Plan 1089C violates the Voting Rights Act and that the Court should adopt the plans they supported at trial require factual determinations. Furthermore, Speaker Laney and the Plaintiffs assert that the Attorney General does not have authority to unilaterally impose a congressional redistricting plan on this State. They argue that Terrazas stands only for the proposition that the Attorney General can suggest possible redistricting remedies just as any other party can do at trial. Also, they urge that the separation-of-powers doctrine precludes extending executive branch authority to congressional redistricting. And Speaker Laney and the Plaintiffs refute the Attorney General's claim that federal jurisprudence supports his position that the trial court should treat executive officials as if they speak for the Legislature. Finally, Speaker Laney and the Plaintiffs argue that Plan 1089C was the product of a fair process. He contends that some of his post-trial proposed modifications to Plan 1065C, which the trial court adopted in Plan 1089C, answer the trial court's question at trial about whether Speaker Laney and Lieutenant Governor Ratliff had merged their two maps together. They had not. But Speaker Laney urges that his modifications reflect a careful merging of the plans he and the Lieutenant Governor proposed. According to Speaker Laney, the need for an additional hearing is unfounded because the parties presented evidence to the court on an equal footing and had the opportunity to comment on the trial court's initial proposal. Moreover, he contends, the trial court ultimately should be able to select its own remedial plan.