At the link, you can find the entire opinion of the majority opinion and dissent of the three-judge panel with the interim and alternate plan.  The dissent of Judge Jerry E. Smith is scathing and will undoubtedly serve as the basis for Texas seeking Supreme Court intervention for a fairer interim plan.  It is apparent that the three-judge panel simply accepted every assertion the plaintiff’s made without any critical eye on the actual caselaw.  The online congressional newspaper, The Hill pointed out the Democrat glee and called this ruling: the interim Texas redistricting plan that could bring back Speaker Pelosi.  These interim maps could not have dreamed of or drawn to better specifications by the Democrats or their liberal allies. 

In his dissent, Judge Smith sounds the alarm of an activist court run amok:

“The judges in the majority, with the purest of intentions, have instead produced a runaway plan that imposes an extreme redistricting scheme for the Texas House of Representatives, untethered to the applicable caselaw.  The practical effect is to award judgment on the pleadings in favor of one side — a slam duck victory for the plaintiffs — at the expense of the redistricting plan by the Legislature, before key decisions have been made on binding questions of law. Because this is a grave error at the preliminary interim stage of the redistricting process, I respectfully dissent.”  “Unless the Supreme Court enters the fray at once to force a stay or a revision, this litigation, is for most practical purposes, at and end.” 

Criticisms of the majority

“The interim phase is not the time for this court to impose the radical alterations in the Texas political landscape that the majority has now mandated.  In almost every instance in which one or more plaintiffs ask for a substantial change that would upset a legislative choice, the majority has elected to order that revision, immediately, in the interim redistricting plans that are effective for the 2012 elections.”

“The majority’s general approach of maximizing the drawing of minority opportunity districts…”

“Not content, however, with making these justified changes, the majority ventures into other areas of the State and sitting as a mini-legislature, engrafts it policy preferences statewide..” 

Judge Smith summarizes and concludes:

“In summary, it is difficult to overstate what the majority – with the purest of intentions – has wrought in ordaining its ambitious scheme.  Its plan is far-reaching and extreme.  The plan expands the role of a three-judge interim court well beyond what is legal, practical, or fair.“

“Because the conscientious and well-intentioned majority has ventured far beyond its proper role in announcing an interim redistricting plan for the Texas House of Representatives, I respectfully dissent, and I offer this alternate plan in response, in the hope that on appeal, the Supreme Court will provide appropriate and immediate guidance.”