The U.S. Department of Justice has confirmed federal pre-clearance of the temporary and emergency changes to the RPT Rules as adopted on Feb. 29 at the emergency meeting of the SREC.

This afternoon, the San Antonio three-judge federal panel issued an order setting a May 29th Primary Election and a related administrative calendar for the election. Of particular importance - the order sets a re-opened filing period for the primary ballot, which will commence on Friday morning, March 2nd at 9:00am and runs through Friday, March 9th at 6:00pm.

The purpose of the meeting was to consider adopting new rules in accordance with the Court's directive to propose a new way to pick delegates to the State Convention so as to allow for a May 29th or June 26th statewide primary date. The proposed rules, as amended, were passed unanimously.

On Tuesday afternoon, the San Antonio federal panel posted new maps for the State House, State Senate and U.S. Congress for the 2012 elections. RPT staff has performed an analysis on the new district lines and are providing the findings via this update.

The three judge panel in San Antonio has posted new state house, state senate and Congressional maps to be used for the 2012 elections.

As part of Chairman Munisteri's commitment to be totally transparent, the Republican Party of Texas is publishing a final copy of the proposed rules changes in advance of Wednesday's emergency meeting of the SREC.

RPT has issued a comprehensive recap on how the convention process is being altered for this year's unusual environment. RPT has held multiple statewide conference calls with SREC members and County Chairmen to help arrive at consensus on the best path forward. Details inside.

If the Court issues maps on or before March 3rd, then the May 29th primary date can be accomplished - assuming a re-opened filing period can be accomplished within a few days. If the Court issues new maps after March 3rd, then the next and final available primary date would be June 26th.

This afternoon, the San Antonio three-judge panel indicated that the April unified primary election will be postponed and that it was probable (but not a certainty) that the new primary date will be May 29th.

Chairman Munisteri has written a full report on Tuesday's hearing in front of the San Antonio three-judge federal panel. It was a full day of action and there is much to update you about before the conclusion of the hearing on Wednesday.

From the Friday afternoon order... "Contrary to any misconceptions, neither the State's recent compromise proposal nor any of the parties' proposals have been rejected at this juncture. It is the Court's desire to have redistricting plans in place for an April primary..."

Wednesday action in front of the San Antonio three-judge panel overseeing redistricting, included a quick trial on the State Senate lawsuit filed by Democratic Senator Wendy Davis. The other news of the day was a new date for next week's important status hearing - now on Tuesday, Feb. 14th.

It appears as though today's developments make it unlikely that there will be an April 3rd Primary. However, it is increasingly likely that there will be a single unified primary in mid-April. More details inside.

Two significant communications from different courts over the last 24 hours have given some indication to the direction and schedules that the San Antonio three-judge panel will take.

All of the rapid change has caused much news and speculation to fly around the internet and into email inboxes. Some reports are not accurate, and the RPT has issued a comprehensive summary update to keep GOP activists and interested parties fully informed on the facts and where we currently stand in this ongoing process.

A full report from the hearing Friday afternoon in San Antonio, attended by Chairman Steve Munisteri and attorneys for the Republican Party of Texas.

This update contains news from the ongoing litigation in front of the three-judge panel in San Antonio, Chairman Munisteri offers his interpretation of the events, and RPT issues an advisory for candidates, party leaders and Republican voters in Texas.

The San Antonio federal panel has issued an order for a status conference on February 1st.  RPT is concerned that delaying a status conference until this date will place the April 3rd unified Primary Election in jeopardy.

Today, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion which vacated the orders implementing Texas redistricting maps prepared by the Western District of Texas three-judge panel.

This morning, the Republican Party of Texas filed an advisory with the United States Supreme Court informing them of the adverse consequences of moving a unified 2012 Texas Primary Election beyond early to mid April.

This afternoon, the San Antonio federal panel signed a court order which sets April 3, 2012 as the unified primary date, as well as providing adjusted dates, deadlines and requirements in respect to its administration.

In the signed court order, the new filing period for all candidates from precinct chair to U.S. President has been extended to 6:00pm on Monday, December 19th. More information in the article...

An extensive recap on the day's events from San Antonio, with full details regarding news on candidate filing. We expect an order from the panel tomorrow that extends candidate filing through Monday, 12/19 for all races on the ballot.

The Supreme Court's action in staying the recently drawn maps issued by the three-judge federal district court panel in San Antonio, is a clear indication that the concerns we raised last week concerning the panel's actions, have merit.

State Chairman Munisteri proposes a battle plan to protect the rights of Texas citizens to have their elected officials represent their interests in legislative redistricting, rather than an unelected judicial panel.

On Friday, Republican Party of Texas Chairman Steve Munisteri released the following statement in response to the proposed interim maps handed down by a federal panel in San Antonio for the 2012 Elections in the Texas House of Representatives and Texas Senate.

As a result of a court order from a federal panel of judges in San Antonio, the new filing period for the March 2012 Primary Elections is November 28 to December 15. These changes apply to all races on the March Primary Ballot.

Chairman Munisteri - "I am satisfied that the primary objective of the Republican Party of Texas was achieved through this redistricting process, which was to ensure a legally-compliant map that reflected the wishes of the voters last fall."