Supreme Court will hear case on gerrymandering

Ohio among opponents to Wisconsinmap that ‘nullififies democracy.’

With the use of WASHINGTON— computers and newtechnology, a political party could devise districtmaps that allowit to control the state politics for years, an attorney argued before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday.

In a case that could impact how states like Ohio draw their state legislative andcongressional maps, PaulD. Smith, an attorney for the non- partisan Campaign Legal Center, urged the court to strike down Wisconsin’s state legislative districts, which overwhelmingly favor Republicans.

Republicanoffifficialsthere, Smith argued, want “a free pass” that “effffffffffffectively nullififies democracy.”

Knownas gerrymandering, the practice of having parties control districtmap-makinghas beenpart of American politics since the early days of the republic. The federal courts have historically been reluctant to interfere with the way states draw their legislative and congressional districts.

But without the court striking down the Wisconsinmap, Smith warned that in 2020 therewould “be a festival of copy-cap gerrymandering the likes that this country has never seen.”

Pointing out that “politicians are never going to fix gerrymandering,” Smith said the court is “the only institution in the United States that can fix this problem.”

But Wisconsin Solicitor General Misha Tseytlin dismissed those arguments as “scare tactics” and told the justices that opponents of the Wisconsin GOP map “would shift redistricting from public officials to the federal courts.”

At stake is whether the U.S. Constitution prohibits states fromdrawing congressional and legislative seats which favor one party and reduce electoral competition. Republicans in Ohio drew up congressional districts in a plan signed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich that resulted in Republicans controlling 12 of the state’s 16 congressional seats.

Las t month, Kasich endorsed legal documents filed with the court urging the justices to strike down theWisconsin map. Kasich joined former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former U.S. SenateMajority Leader Bob Dole to oppose theWisconsin districts.

“We have opinion after opinion fromthis court that the consideration of politics in and of itself is not inherently unconstitutional,” Erin Murphy, an attorney who filed a legal brief defending theWisconsin map, told the justices.

Fromthe questions posed by the justices, it is clear that Justice Anthony Kennedy holds the deciding vote. In 2004, when the justices upheld a Pennsylvania redistricting plan, Kennedymade clear he would welcome a challenge to partisan redistrictingby relyingontheFirst Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech.

“First Amendment concerns arise where a state enacts a law that has the purpose and effect of subjecting a group of voters or their party to disfavored treatment by reason of their views,” Kennedy wrote in the case, Vieth v. Jubelirer.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the Wisconsin map “a deliberate attempt to maximize the number of” GOP seats in the state legislature, a viewthat appeared to be supported by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, who asked if it is “OK” for party officials “to stack the decks” in the way legislative races are decided.

But Justice Samuel Alito, who is expected to uphold theWisconsinmap, said “gerrymandering is distasteful. But ifwe impose a standard, it has to be manageable.”

Ohio draws up districts for the state Senate and House through a board that includes the governor, auditor, and secretary of state. If one party controls those offices, it can design statehouse maps that favor its candidates.

The legislature then designs congressional districts, meaning if one party controls the OhioHouse and Senate, it can design districts that favor their candidates as well.

Ohio lawmakers approved amajor overhaul of the way Ohio’s state legislative districts are designed, amove that voters ratified in 2015.

Advocates of more competitive congressional districts hope to place an initiative on the Ohio ballot either this year or next to draw up maps in a bipartisan fashion.