Appeals Court Orders Stay of Redistricting : Voting rights: Federal judges will hear the county’s appeal of plan. Reaction to the latest development is varied.

A federal appeals court Thursday temporarily blocked implementation of a court-ordered reapportionment plan for the Board of Supervisors that would dramatically realign political representation in Los Angeles County and create a new Latino majority district.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to hear the county’s appeal and ordered an eight-day stay of the decision issued last week by U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon.

Finding that the county Board of Supervisors had intentionally discriminated against Latinos by diluting their voting power, Kenyon invalidated the June 5 primary in the 1st District, redrew all the districts and ordered a new election Nov. 4.

The appeals court order again creates uncertainty about the election for the 1st District seat, leaving unclear its boundaries, the date for the election and who will run.

The stay, which expires Aug. 17, gives all the parties in the case time to argue the merits of implementing Kenyon’s order while the appeal is heard later in the fall. A hearing on the stay was set for next Thursday in San Francisco before U.S. Circuit Judges Robert Beezer, Dorothy Nelson and Alex Kozinski.

The judges said they would decide the merits of the county’s appeal “on an expedited basis,” with briefs due by Sept. 21 and oral arguments in the first week in October.

The appeals court order drew varied interpretations and reactions from the litigants, with some predicting the stay indicates the remapping will be overturned and others that it will be sustained.

The stay was immediately hailed by Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who has consistently said the county would be vindicated on appeal.

“This is the first step in restoring common sense to due process and a fair reapportionment based upon the federal 1990 census and not the back-door dealing of narrow interests,” Antonovich said. “Judge Kenyon ignored the law for his personal political agenda.”

Antonia Hernandez, president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, one of the plaintiffs in the case, called the stay “another attempt by county officials to delay the inevitable--the redrawing of district boundaries” which would give Latino community representation on the five-member board for the first time. She predicted MALDEF would win the appeal.

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre said, “It is just a continuation of the county opening its checkbook to frustrate the will of the court.”

Jerry Crump, chief assistant county counsel, said the stay restores the June election results and the runoff election between supervisor’s aide Sarah Flores and Superior Court Judge Gregory O’Brien. “We’re back on schedule,” he said.

John McDermott, the county’s lead attorney in the case, had a more reserved response. “In one sense, it’s just a big continuance. It’s seven more days of uncertainty,” he said.

But McDermott said he was confident that the stay would be extended by the appeals court. “It seems to me that the arguments in favor of a stay are overwhelming at this stage,” he said. The stay, he said, will “make it much harder to have a new election in November, if not impossible.”

Hernandez said the ruling “only causes a temporary delay in the elections process. . . . We continue to prepare for a November primary election.”

The stay gave new hope to Flores and O’Brien, who on Thursday were trying to rebuild momentum for their stalled campaigns.

“We’ll be out raising money and acting like candidates again,” O’Brien said.

Flores said she will continue to campaign in the old and the new 1st supervisorial districts. “I’ll continue to run in the current district, and not take anything for granted in the other,” she said.

A new field of candidates would run in the redrawn 1st District if the election takes place. They saw the stay as a temporary setback, but one that may provide some breathing space before having to declare their intentions.

Rep. Esteban Torres (D-La Puente) said discussions will continue among community leaders who are attempting to agree on a “consensus candidate.” Besides Torres, other potential candidates are Alatorre, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Gloria Molina and Rep. Edward Roybal (D-Los Angeles).

Under Kenyon’s ruling, candidates would have until Aug. 24 to file petitions. The primary election would be Nov. 6 and, if necessary, a runoff election would be Dec. 4.