Federal judge nixes Ohio’s push for early redistricting data

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the state of Ohio that tried to get the U.S. Census Bureau to provide data used for drawing congressional and legislative districts ahead of its planned release.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Rose in Dayton, Ohio, rejected the state’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have forced the Census Bureau to release the redistricting data by March 31.

Ohio filed its lawsuit last month after the Census Bureau said the redistricting data wouldn’t be available until September, months after the redistricting deadlines for many states. Posing the first challenge to the bureau’s revised deadline on redistricting data, the lawsuit said the delay will undermine Ohio’s process of redrawing districts. Alabama also has filed a lawsuit over the changed deadline.

The bureau has since said the data will be available in an older format in August.

In dismissing the lawsuit, the judge said that there was nothing that could be done to fix Ohio’s redistricting quandary since it was impossible for the Census Bureau to meet the legally mandated March 31 deadline. Bureau officials said last month that they needed more time because of operational delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The judge said Ohio could use other data to draw its districts. The state’s claim that fights over what alternative data to use would undermine confidence in the redistricting process was “speculative,” Rose said.

“Accuracy would seem to be the foundation of confidence, and Ohio’s redistricting plan foresees the possibility of delays in providing numbers,” the judge said. “It would seem that the remedy Ohio seeks is more likely to reduce public confidence.”

Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the state would appeal. “We appreciate Judge Rose’s careful consideration of the matter, but if the State does not have standing to challenge the Census Bureau’s decision to arbitrarily ignore a statutory deadline, no one does,” Yost said in a statement.