Congressional districts in Ohio must be addressed

In one of his last acts as attorney general, now-Gov. Mike DeWine last month asked federal judges to block a lawsuit challenging Ohio’s outrageously gerrymandered congressional districts.

Republican DeWine, inaugurated Jan. 14 as governor, was mistaken to do so — and his motion appears moot for now, after the three federal judges hearing the case unanimously ruled Friday that the trial should go forward as planned on March 4. In part, they cited timeliness considerations because of approaching deadlines to plan for the 2020 presidential vote.

Ohio’s rigged districts need to be on the U.S. Supreme Court’s agenda well before Ohioans vote in the November 2020 presidential election . ...

The 2011 map, signed by thenGov. John Kasich, a Republican, chopped and channeled Ohio to concentrate, or pack, Democrats into as few districts as possible. Among the brazen examples: adding swathes of Greater Cleveland to a congressional district stripped along Lake Erie that includes Toledo . ...

But Ohioans have noses; they don’t need yardsticks to tell if something smells.

Maybe GOP bids to kill the lawsuit aim to keep this panel (two judges appointed by Democrats) from winding up with jurisdiction over the districts Ohio will draw in 2021. But such an effort to influence jurisdiction over Ohio’s post-2020 redistricting process is inappropriate.

Read the full editorial from the Plain Dealer at bit. ly/2GBBv9f