Judge postpones filing deadline for legislature

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Kentucky's deadline for legislative hopefuls to file for election has been postponed for a week while a judge weighs the constitutionality of newly drawn district boundaries.

Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd issued a temporary restraining order on Tuesday that pushed the filing deadline to Feb. 7. Shepherd took the action less than two hours before the original deadline.

Republicans hard hit in a contentious redistricting battle filed a lawsuit last week challenging the constitutionality of newly drawn legislative boundaries, claiming they favor Democrats. The lone Democrat who was redistricted out of her elected position joined the lawsuit.

The lawsuit contends that the new legislative districts could have been better balanced by population and that they could have been drawn in a way would have required fewer splits in counties and precincts.

Victor Maddox, a Louisville attorney representing the GOP, had argued Monday that not changing the filing deadline would cause irreparable harm. David Tachau, an attorney for the State Board of Elections, said Maddox had failed to prove that and that the deadline should remain unchanged.

Shepherd sided with Maddox in his order, saying Republicans had shown "that they will suffer 'irreparable injury, loss or damage' in the absence of a restraining order."