The Redistricting Commission in Ohio was created by an amendment to the Ohio Constitution, which was approved by 71% of Ohio voters in November 2015. Voters thought they were ending partisan gerrymandering. They were wrong.
The Redistricting Commission was fatally flawed in its design.
The Ohio Redistricting Commission is comprised of seven members:
- One individual appointed by the Senate President
- One individual appointed by the Speaker of the House
- One individual appointed by the Senate Minority Leader
- One individual appointed by the House Minority Leader
- The Governor
- The Auditor
- The Secretary of State
In Ohio, this created a 5-2 Republican advantage on the Redistricting Commission, which resulted in extreme Republican gerrymandering in defiance of the constitutional amendment and the will of the voters who approved ending partisan gerrymandering.
In February, The commission rejected the plan put forth by Democratic commissioners and adjourned without Republican commissioners proposing a new set of state House and Senate district maps. (excerpt):
The commission had until midnight Thursday to come up with House and Senate maps that meet constitutional guidelines. The Ohio Supreme Court set that deadline, and ordered maps to be delivered to justices Friday morning.
Since September, the commissioners have passed two sets of state legislative district maps and both times those maps have been found unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court. Those maps passed on a 5-2 vote with support only from the commission’a majority Republicans.
But the commission did not follow the court order. Instead, the Ohio Redistricting Commission adjourned with about seven hours left before the court’s deadline.
Democratic members of the commission chided Republicans for failing to respond to the court order.
“This is a direct assault on our democracy and Ohio voters. And if we do not respect the legitimacy of the courts, then we are disrespecting the rule of law,” says House Minority Caucus Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington).
But Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) made the argument that it’s not possible to follow the court’s ruling on drawing new maps.
“I don’t believe the commission is able to ascertain a General Assembly district plan in conformity with the provisions of the Ohio Constitution and Ohio state law, nor with the federal constitution,” says Huffman.
[T]here have been suggestions that the court has the ability to hold the commission accountable, such as holding members in contempt of court.
Fair district advocates who have been plaintiffs in the court challenges say they are reviewing their options.
As you might imagine, there was yet another lawsuit filed, this time in federal district court.
On Friday, a three judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Easter Division, overruled the Ohio Supreme Court and sided with the Republicans who defied the constitutional amendment and the will of the voters who approved ending partisan gerrymandering.
The Ohio District Court effectively rewarded lawless Republicans for their defiance of the fair districts constitutional amendment and defiance of lawful court orders. Federal Judges Overrule Ohio Supreme Court: Mandate Voided Voting Map:
A federal court panel on Friday ordered Ohio to hold an Aug. 2 primary using the third set of Statehouse maps approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission, despite [being held unconstitutional] by the state’s high court.
The court acted after giving Ohio a Saturday deadline to come up with a new map for legislative districts, a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio said in its ruling.
That deadline will be missed, as the GOP-controlled commission did not schedule any meetings [again in defiance of a lawful court order.]
“We recognized from the outset that choosing a remedy would be challenging,” Circuit Judge Amul Thapar said in the 2-1 majority opinion.
“And between the standoff among state officials and the delay in getting the case, our options were limited,” Thapar wrote. “So we chose the best of our bad options.”
The federal court’s decision came in a lawsuit brought by a group of Republican voters that initially sought to salvage legislative primaries scheduled for May 3 by using the commission’s third set of district lines, which also was found unconstitutional.
BREAKING: Federal court orders Ohio to implement state legislative district maps that were ruled unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court pic.twitter.com/HM6aKjDufj
— Andy Chow (@andy_chow) May 27, 2022
Friday’s ruling was a victory for that GOP group, as well as for the Republican-dominated redistricting commission, which passed five straight sets of legislative maps that couldn’t meet constitutional muster.
A directive to the state’s 88 elections board regarding the primary will be sent Saturday, said Rob Nichols, spokesperson for Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the state’s elections chief and a member of the redistricting commission.
Judge Azul R. Thapar, a Trump appointee, and Judge Benjamin J. Beaton, also a Trump appointee, were in the majority and rewarded Ohio Republicans for their lawlessness. Republicans packed the federal courts with partisan activist judges to endorse their lawlessness and give their actions the imprimatur of legality. It is rank corruption.
I am reminded of Al Pacino in the classic scene form “And Justice For All” – “You’re out of order! You’re out of order! The whole trial is out of order!”
Chief Judge Algenon Marbley [a Clinton appointee] dissented in Friday’s ruling, pointing out that the state Supreme Court reiterated this week that the third map remains unconstitutional.
The best option remained the map drawn by two experts, one selected by Republicans, one by Democrats, Marbley said.
The two men — Douglas Johnson, president of National Demographics Corporation, and Michael McDonald, a University of Florida political science professor — were nearly finished when the commission suddenly set aside their work and passed a different map. The two had been paid $450 an hour for the previous four days to draw new maps in work viewed step-by-step online.
Ohio’s map fight comes amid the once-per-decade political mapmaking process that all states must undertake to reflect population changes from the census.A combination of Republican foot-dragging and legal wrangling has extended redistricting well into the 2022 election season and stymied Ohio’s legislative primaries. Maps were supposed to be completed last fall.
A 2015 constitutional amendment, passed overwhelmingly by voters, required the commission to at least attempt to avoid partisan favoritism and to try to proportionally distribute districts to reflect Ohio’s political makeup, which is split at about 54% Republican, 46% Democrat.
Republican commissioners have argued the set of maps they resubmitted to the court most recently met those requirements. By GOP calculations, the boundaries would create a 54-45 Republican majority in the Ohio House and an 18-15 Republican majority in Ohio Senate. Democrats have challenged their numbers, saying many districts counted in Democrats’ column are very closely divided.
Both LaRose and the association representing election officials in Ohio’s 88 counties, who administer elections, previously said they wanted the legislative primaries to be held Aug. 2.
The court’s Friday decision was disappointing, said state Sen. Vernon Sykes, an Akron Democrat and redistricting commission co-chair. But he noted the ruling only affects elections this year.
“The Ohio Redistricting Commission still has the responsibility to draw fair, constitutional maps for the rest of the decade and I will continue to work toward that goal,” Sykes said.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), who is running for reelection in November, similarly gave lip service to fair districts earlier this year: “We have an obligation to follow the Ohio Constitution. We have an obligation to follow the court order — whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not. And three, we have an obligation to produce a map.” Actions speak louder than words governor.
Republicans got what they wanted by defying the state constitution, the voters of Ohio, and the courts. Unless Ohioans hold them accountable by kicking them out of office, lawless Republicans will only cement their ill-gotten gains in the future. There must be consequences.
The Trump appointed judges who rewarded such Republican lawlessness should be impeached and removed from the bench. (I said should … yes, I know this will never happen.)
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
If I missed it then shame on me and I apologize, but I don’t remember your being outraged at the New York State Democrats who drew an extremely partisan redistrictig map and who were overruled by a judge. It was national news. Is your distain for extreme gerrymandering limited to those instances that favor Republicans?
My disdain is for defying a constitutional amendment approved by a wide majority of voters, and disregarding the lawful orders of the courts on five spearate occasions. Republican lawlessness is the problem. New York has no such law, and all parties complied with the New York court’s order for the new map. See the difference Troll Boy?
Your ad holmium “troll boy” attack blends well with your deceitful recounting about what happened in New York state. I say deceitful instead of misinformed because your research ability is not in question and all media have reported the NYS Democrats’ mapping as unconstitutional gerrymandering. Thus, my suggestion that you are a partisan propagandist with no regard for the truth is very much on display. Just read the N.Y. Times (no right wing rag) account of what the NYS dems did and how the NYS Court of Appeals, NYS”s highest court, (no Ducey packed court) called them out:
New York’s highest court ruled on Wednesday that Democratic leaders had violated the State Constitution when they took it upon themselves to draw new congressional and State Senate districts, and ordered that a court-appointed special master draft replacement lines for this year’s critical midterm elections.
In a sweeping 32-page ruling, a divided New York State Court of Appeals chided Democrats for ignoring a constitutional amendment adopted by voters in 2014 to curb political influence in the redistricting process. The amendment also created a new outside commission to guide the process.
The judges additionally found that the congressional districts designed by Democrats violated an explicit state ban on partisan gerrymandering, undercutting the party’s national campaign to brand itself as the champion of voting rights.
Writing for the four-judge majority, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said that Democratic lawmakers created congressional and State Senate maps in a way that was “procedurally unconstitutional,” and that the congressional map in particular was “drawn with impermissible partisan purpose.”
Well, Troll Boy, I have never defended what Democrats did in New York, and in fact I have strongly supported independent redistricting commissions on a national scale for years. (It would be nice if Arizona had a truly independent redistricting commission.) The point you are avoiding with your trolling is that the political parties in New York are complying with the Court’s order. In Ohio, Republicans took the position of Andrew Jackson, to paraphrase, “the state Supreme Court has issued its order, now let’s see them enforce it.” Lawless Republicians defied the state Supreme Court on five separate occasions and then went forum shopping to draw a favorable panel of Trump appointed judges in federal district court who endorsed their lawlessness. In New York, the judicial system worked. In Ohio, the judicial system was corrupted by Trump appointed judges. The Ohio Supree Court should hold them in contempt of court.
Nice twisting of the argument. I did not accuse you of defending the NY Democrats’ gerrymandering. I said you were a hypocrite for only condemning Republican gerrymandering. So that makes you a partisan and deceptive hypocrite, and not a clever one at that.
The post was about the most recent news out of Ohio. What part did you not understand? You wanting to make it about something else is why you are a Troll Boy.
AZ BlueMeanie, is this true?! Are you partisan like John Kavanagh says!????
My world has been rocked, my mind is blown.
I now mark the decade’s of my life as those before I found out AZBlue is partisan, and every day after.
I get that old man Kavanagh wants to have the last word, it makes him feel important, but I really wish the Feeble Troll Boy from Jersey would think before he posts.
Also, let’s all give a buncha’ money to RAICESTEXAS.
RAICES provides free or low cost legal help to immigrants!
Let’s get that ringing in John Kavanagh’s ear really chiming by donating in Honor the Arizona state rep.
It’s not ad hominem if it’s true, Jersey troll boy.
When John Kavanagh isn’t at one of the GQP’s co caine or gies (I assume, based on what Maddy says, he described you to a T) or defending the rights of child murderers, he’s here, trolling.
And clearly he’s here helping to support RAICES!
RAICESTEXAS . org provides free or low cost legal assistance to immigrants.
Don’t forget to donate In Honor of Arizona Rep John Kavanagh. I do and it feels great.
Did you know that very time a brown skinned immigrant becomes an American an angel rings a little bell that only racists can hear.
At this moment, an unknown but sizable number of people are acquiring weapons and planning mass shootings, at schools, churches, shopping malls, a continuation of the 12 mass shootings that occurred over the just the past holiday weekend.
John Kavanagh has taken time out of his busy day working to protect Arizonans from mass shootings to stop by here in yet another feeble attempt to own some libs.
Also, I am kidding, John Kavanagh is not working to prevent any mass shootings, his party supports the slaughter of children through inaction.
Please donate in honor Arizona Rep John Kavanagh to RAICESTEXAS dot org.
RAICES provides free or low cost legal assistance to immigrants.
If you have a few extra dollars, maybe donate to March for Our Lives, a group that’s actually trying to protect people.