PETTEWAY v. GALVESTON COUNTY TEXAS (2023)

The applications to vacate stay presented to Justice ALITO and by him referred to the Court are denied.

I would grant the applications to vacate the stay issued by the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit's stay itself disrupted the status quo—an election map concededly lawful under Circuit precedent and nearly identical to the maps that have governed the election of Galveston County's commissioners for decades. In imposing a different map, acknowledged to violate current law—on the theory that the Circuit might someday change that law—the Court of Appeals went far beyond its proper authority. I respectfully dissent from this Court's denial of the applications.