A shoe has yet to drop in Laredo, but another in Austin might echo there

Jim D of the Burnt Orange Report has the latest info on the redistricting map that's just come out of committee in the Texas Senate, along with some interesting comments about timing.

Meanwhile, I note that more than a week has passed since the Dems got poured out in Laredo, without the promised (and, in my judgment,
premature) Supreme Court appeal.

If I were a lawyer representing Plaintiffs Barrientos et al. in their Civil Rights Act lawsuit in Laredo, I'd advise them to withdraw their still-pending motion to amend their complaint, and certainly not to attempt a silly and hopeless Supreme Court appeal.  Why?

Because if I were Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the same afternoon that Gov. Perry signs whatever redistricting plan eventually passes, I'd use that pending lawsuit as a procedural vehicle to immediately file a counterclaim for declaratory judgment that there's no Voting Rights Act of 1965 violation — basically shortcutting the inevitable litigation by as much as a week or two, and taking advantage of a very smart,  pretty conservative, and obviously quick-moving three-judge panel that's already set up and ready to go.