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David Niven, professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati, is holding a map showing a gerrymandered Ohio district.
John Minchillo / AP
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John Minchillo / AP
David Niven, professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati, is holding a map showing a gerrymandered Ohio district.
John Minchillo / AP
A federal court ruled that the Ohio Congress card was an "unconstitutional party gerrymander" and needed to be redrawn before the 2020 elections.
In their decision on Friday, a panel of three US District Judges from the Southern District of Ohio claimed that the card was intentionally created "to disadvantage Democratic voters and seat Republican representatives in power." The court contends that the card violates the constitutional right of voters to choose their representatives and exceeds the powers of the state under Article I of the Constitution.
"As a result, we declare the Ohio map of 2012 as an unconstitutional political party, we urge its use in the 2020 elections and order the adoption of a constitutionally viable substitute ", wrote the judges in their decision.
It is likely that the decision will be appealed to the US Supreme Court, which is currently deliberating against Congressional cards from Maryland and North Carolina.
The League of Women Voters, the ACLU and other advocacy groups sued Ohio over the past year, claiming that Republicans had redrawed the Congress card in 2011 with the intention of keeping their advantage of three against one. Since the entry into force of the card in 2012, the Ohio Congress delegation has been blocked to 12 Republicans and four Democrats.
The judges agree with the advocacy groups in their argument that the Ohio districts were "designed to add to the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs, had this effect and that effect. is not explained by any other legitimate justifications ".
The current map of Ohio was drawn in 2011 by lawmakers from the Republican State, with the help of party consultants in a hotel room in Columbus. Democrats say that they have been completely excluded from the process.
"These national Republicans generated some of the key strategic ideas for the card, thus maximizing its likely pro-Republican performance, and had the power to approve card changes before their counterparts in Ohio did. implement, "writes the judge. "Throughout the process, Ohio and the national map makers have made decisions based on their likely partisan effects."
The judges also ruled that Ohio's card had been beneficial to Republicans at every election. The decision says the experts "have shown that voter support for the Democrats could and had changed, but that the partisan release of the card remains stubbornly intact."
In May 2018, a majority of votes was voted to impose new requirements on the Ohio card drawing process, but the new card will only be created after the 2020 census. No Congressional Elections would not be affected until 2022.
Under the amendment, a 10-year congressional card needs to get 50% support from the minority party of the state. Otherwise, the map would be drawn by a bipartite commission. If this card does not receive enough support, a 10-year card could then pass with only one-third of the support of the minority party, or a four-year card could be passed without minority support but with stricter rules.
The ruling against Ohio comes a little over a week after a Michigan federal court declared the card unconstitutional. The judges said the Republicans drew the map to unfairly disadvantage the Democrats, and that the state was to redraw its district boundaries on Aug. 1.
You can see the full decision below or at this link.
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