Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court gave opponents of Texas's new federal voting districts a new chance to argue against the plan, which may add as many as six Republicans to the state's congressional delegation in the Nov. 2 election.

Today's action leaves the districts in place for the election two weeks from tomorrow. The justices told a lower court to reconsider its decision upholding the districts in light of the justices' April ruling that examined partisan gerrymandering in a Pennsylvania case.

In the Texas case, minority voters and Democratic lawmakers say Republicans, including U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, illegally redrew the state's 32 districts mid-decade for partisan purposes. Opponents say the new districts reduce the voting clout of blacks and Hispanics. Though DeLay played a key role in creating the new districts, he isn't a party to today's case.

The high court's action is ``kind of a mixed thing, but it's not by any means a loss,'' said Washington lawyer Paul M. Smith, who represents the challengers in one of five appeals acted on today. Smith said he doesn't plan to challenge the use of the new districts in next month's election. ``The fight now is about what map will be in place for the rest of the decade,'' he said.

In January, the justices rejected the opponents' request to block use of the new districts during their appeal of a three- judge panel's decision upholding the map.

A Little Lat

For Democrats, today's court action ``obviously comes a little too late,'' said Amy Walter of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. ``Republicans have a very good chance of picking up at least five seats in Texas'' on Nov. 2, and even if opponents of the new districts later won a decision overturning them, it would be hard to dislodge the new incumbents, she said.

The Texas attorney general's office said it will issue a statement later today on the court's action.

Texas Democrats now hold 16 of the state's 32 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The challengers said in their appeals that the new map creates 22 safe Republican districts.

The justices set aside a three-judge federal court ruling that upheld the Texas districts and told the court to reconsider the case under the standards set by the Supreme Court's ruling in the Pennsylvania case. In that decision, the Supreme Court rejected claims that Republican-drawn districts were so partisan they violated the Constitution, while leaving the door open to similar challenges in the future.

Texas Republicans led the effort to break up some of the state's Democratic-controlled districts.

`Ultimate Affront'

The challengers said one Democrat targeted for defeat was Representative Martin Frost of the Dallas area, whose district's minority population was split into five pieces under the new map.

In addition, the appeal said the legislature drew a new majority-Hispanic district, from the Rio Grande Valley to Austin in central Texas, that is more than 300 miles long and in places less than 10 miles wide.

``Redrawing a map in the middle of a decade solely for partisan gain is the ultimate affront to traditional neutral districting principles,'' Smith argued in one of the appeals by those challenging the new districts.

The new Texas map replaces boundaries that were drawn by a three-judge panel in 2001 after the state legislature failed to produce a redistricting plan. At the time, Democrats controlled the Texas House while Republicans had a majority in the Senate.

After the 2002 elections, Republicans gained the upper hand in the Texas House for the first time in decades, opening the door to a new redistricting effort. The fight twice prompted Democratic lawmakers to flee the state in an unsuccessful effort to deny Republicans the quorum they needed to enact the new boundaries.

Favoring the Majority

At the Supreme Court, lawyers for Democrats and minority voters argued that the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause bars state legislatures from redrawing voting maps solely to gain political advantage. Groups opposing the new map said that restricting generally should take place only once a decade, in response to the decennial census.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican, argued that the new districts are ``pro-majoritarian'' in a state where ``Republicans routinely garner in excess of 55 percent of the statewide vote.''

Incumbents Charles Stenholm, Frost and Chet Edwards are among the Texas Democrats in danger of losing in November.

Nationwide, Republicans occupy 227 of the 435 House seats, with 205 Democrats, one independent and two vacancies. Of the 13 races rated as toss-ups by the Cook Political Report, five are in Texas.

The cases are Jackson v. Perry, 03-1391; American GI Forum of Texas v. Perry, 03-1396; Lee v. Perry, 03-1399; Travis County v. Perry, 03-1400; and Henderson v. Perry, 03-9644.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 18, 2004 12:55 EDT