The Justices Look at Some Shapely . . . Congressional Districts

Kennedy at first alarmed the Democratic side. Addressing Paul Smith, a lawyer opposed to the Texas plan, he said that if the earlier map was skewed, "it seems to me there is grounds for the new legislature to act."

Smith protested. "But, Your Honor, it wasn't slanted."

As Smith continued to outline his case that the Republicans redrew the map solely for political reasons, Kennedy stopped him. "But you're making assumptions," the justice said. "That's simply not true."

Kennedy whispered with Justice Clarence Thomas, who gave a dismissive shake of the head.

Things looked even worse for the Democrats when Kennedy joined Roberts and Antonin Scalia in a skeptical line of questioning of Perales, another lawyer opposed to the Texas map.

But Kennedy reversed course when Cruz stepped up to argue for Texas. After Scalia immediately signaled his support for the GOP map and Stevens and Breyer raised some doubts, the swing voter cleared his throat. He said he found something in the Texas plan that "to me is a serious Shaw violation" -- referring to an earlier redistricting case.

This caused a hubbub in the gallery. Kennedy wondered if the state had removed enough Hispanics from a district to make sure a Republican won it but left enough "just to make it look good." Said Kennedy: "It seems to me that is an affront and an insult."

Cruz moved on to discuss the district's clean lines, but Kennedy was unimpressed. "Well, of course, the reason the lines are straight is nobody's there," he said. He floated the idea that political considerations -- by all accounts the primary motivation behind the Texas redistricting -- should be "secondary."

Of course, Kennedy may have actually said something slightly different -- but we won't know for sure until the transcript comes out next week.