Kentucky's deadline for legislative hopefuls to file for election has been postponed for a week while a judge weighs the constitutionality of newly drawn district boundaries.
Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd issued a temporary restraining order on Tuesday that pushed the filing deadline to Feb. 7. Shepherd took the action less than two hours before the original deadline.
Republicans hard hit in a contentious redistricting battle filed a lawsuit last week challenging the constitutionality of newly drawn legislative boundaries, claiming they favor Democrats. The lone Democrat who was redistricted out of her elected position joined the lawsuit.
The lawsuit contends that the new legislative districts could have been better balanced by population and that they could have been drawn in a way would have required fewer splits in counties and precincts.
Victor Maddox, a Louisville attorney representing the GOP, had argued Monday that not changing the filing deadline would cause irreparable harm. David Tachau, an attorney for the State Board of Elections, said Maddox had failed to prove that and that the deadline should remain unchanged.
Shepherd sided with Maddox in his order, saying Republicans had shown "that they will suffer 'irreparable injury, loss or damage' in the absence of a restraining order."
The GOP's lawsuit affects House, Senate and judicial redistricting.
Kentucky's Democratic-controlled House voted largely along party lines on Jan. 12 to redraw boundary lines in a way that sets up Republican vs. Republican races in three House districts. One unfortunate Republican would face powerful House Democratic Floor Leader Rocky Adkins in northeastern Kentucky.
The lawsuit contends that the new legislative districts could have been better balanced by population, and that they could have been drawn in a way would have required fewer splits in counties and precincts.
The new lines also produced some oddly shaped state House districts. The 89th stretches from the Tennessee border in McCreary County, zigzags narrowly through Laurel County, then encompasses all of Jackson County for a geographic setup that one lawmaker said would require an airplane for travel. One Senate district stretches from Barbourville to Morehead.
Kentucky is one of 25 states with pending court cases involving redistricting. A similar Kentucky lawsuit filed after the 1990 census established some of the case law that House Republicans reference in their legal challenge.
State lawmakers have already agreed to postpone congressional filing deadlines for a week. That's because House and Senate lawmakers haven't been able to agree on new boundaries for congressional districts.
Negotiators trying to work out an agreement on a congressional redistricting plan have been deadlocked, but some movement had been reported in private talks late last week.
