AIRC Update: DOJ approves Arizona’s new congressional districts map

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

All the sturm and drang from Tea-Publicans over the new congressional districts map turned out to be so much sound and fury, signifying nothing.

When the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) hired former Department of Justice  lawyer Bruce Adelson as its compliance consultant, it ensured that the maps would pass Department of Justice Voting Rights Act preclearance on the first submission. (Mr. Adelson is the DOJ lawyer who rejected Arizona's state legislative redistricting plan ten years ago finding intentional discrimination).

The Department of Justice has approved Arizona's new congressional district maps. US backs Arizona's redrawn vote maps:

The Independent Redistricting Commission received a letter from the Department of Justice Monday informing it that the U.S. attorney general has no objections to the maps.

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Arizona's state legislative maps still have not been approved. The commission expects to hear back from the Department of Justice on those maps by April 30, said Kristina Gomez, deputy executive director of the commission.

The U.S. approval comes nearly three months after the Independent Redistricting Commission gave final approval on Jan. 17 to maps.

House Speaker Andy Tobin has been trying to round up support among his Tea-Publican caucus for a lawsuit against the AIRC maps, but there appears not to be adequate support for his plan after being advised that state taxpayer funds cannot be used for litigation of a purely partisan issue that is not on behalf of the House of Representatives as a whole. Tea-Publicans don't want to spend their own money.