Hearing on legislative redistricting canceled

The Mobile Register

Thursday, January 26, 2006

A trial originally scheduled for Wednesday related to a federal lawsuit challenging Alabama 's legislative districts has been canceled.

A three-judge panel in Mobile was to have heard evidence this week before deciding whether the lawsuit should be allowed to move forward. Lawyers for Democratic legislators have argued that a redistricting lawsuit in 2002 precludes the most recent suit, filed last year by Republican voters in southwest Alabama .

The voters contend that the Democratic-dominated Legislature's redistricting improperly packed them into overpopulated districts.

Plaintiffs made similar arguments in the 2002 case.

The many lawyers involved agreed last week to submit testimony from depositions rather than present live witnesses. The judges will review that testimony, along with written arguments from the lawyers, before making a decision.

If the judges decide that the recent lawsuit is sufficiently different from previous litigation, the case can proceed.

In a side issue, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Cassady handed a victory to Gov. Bob Riley on Tuesday, ruling that Riley does not have to answer questions from opposing lawyers in person.

Lawyers for Senate President Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, and Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, had sought to take Riley's deposition as part of the governor's attempt to disqualify one of their attorneys, Larry Menefee.

But Cassady ruled that Barron and Sanders had failed to demonstrate a compelling need for the in-person deposition.

Cassady noted that high-ranking government officials normally are not subject to depositions unless such proceedings are necessary to obtain relevant information that cannot be obtained from any other source and the process would not significantly interfere with the ability of the official to perform his duties.

Cassady also noted in his order that Riley has offered to answer questions in writing.