FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd made that ruling Tuesday afternoon in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of newly redrawn district boundaries.

Shepherd also set Friday as a new deadline for legislative candidates to file to run in this year's elections.

House Republicans unhappy with the outcome of the legislative redistricting battle filed a lawsuit in January challenging the constitutionality of newly drawn boundaries, claiming they favor Democrats.

A Senate Democrat displaced in the redistricting process joined the lawsuit, which 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.