Ken Paxton again seeks to block legal fees in redistricting case

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to reverse a federal judge’s decision to award legal fees to lawyers who fought the state in a marathon redistricting case.

Lawyers in Paxton’s office argued that a district court in Washington, D.C. had no authority to award the fees.

The move by Paxton’s office represents a last-ditch effort that comes after a ruling in August by a federal appeals court panel in Washington, D.C. The lower court had ordered the state of Texas to pay more than $1 million in attorneys’ fees in a case challenging district boundaries drawn by the Republican-led Legislature.

At the time, Judge Patricia Millett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit criticized the state for its refusal to file the proper documents, and the court seemed to chide the state’s lawyers for filing an incomplete advisory.

A group of Hispanic Texans that sued the state known as the “Gonzales intervenors” expects to take nearly $600,000 of the $1 million-plus in ordered fees from the state. A group that was led by former state Sen. Wendy Davis and U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, both Fort Worth Democrats, should be awarded $466,680, and the Texas State Conference of NAACP Branches is owned $32,374, according to the court. The groups argued that boundaries were drawn to dilute the voting power of Hispanics and African-Americans.

Lawyers suing the state declined to comment.