Connor v. Coleman, 440 U.S. 612 (1979)

ON MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS

Syllabus

A motion for leave to file a petition for a writ of mandamus to require the District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi to adopt immediately a plan reapportioning the Mississippi Legislature for the 1979 elections, as previously directed by this Court, is granted. This is a better course than waiting (as the District Court would do by staying its proceedings) to see if a plan fashioned by the legislature is approved by May 7, 1979, in a separate suit brought by the State under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the District Court for the District of Columbia, because, in the unlikely event that a legislative plan should supersede the court plan before May 7, potential candidates would have more than a month before the June 7 filing deadline for the 1979 elections, whereas, if the legislative plan does not go into effect and the court plan is not filed until May 7, this Court will be faced with requests for emergency review that, if granted, could force changes only days before the June 7 deadline. Consideration of the petition for a writ of mandamus, however, is continued for 30 days.