The group that sued over Ohio’s Congressional district map says there’s still time to draw a new one for next year's election if lawmakers are ordered to do that, even though the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday delayed a lower court’s order to do so by June 14.
The U.S. Supreme Court said Ohio’s map will stand at least till after its rulings next month on maps from North Carolina and Maryland.
A federal court in Cincinnati ruled Ohio’s map is unconstitutionally partisan gerrymandered. Freda Levenson with the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio says she’s confident a map could be ready by the Sept. 20 deadline for next year’s Congressional elections.
“It takes a long time to draw a gerrymandered map," Levenson said. "Drawing a constitutional map is not a lengthy endeavor.”
Republican Attorney General Dave Yost has said it’s common sense to wait for the high court’s other rulings.
The state’s congressional districts were found to be an “unconstitutional partisan gerrymander” by a federal court in May, which ordered the legislature to draw a new map by June 14, 2019. Yost appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court after the three-judge panel in Cincinnati refused to delay their order. Yost wanted to hold off on the redistricting process until the Supreme Court issued decisions on gerrymandering cases from Maryland and North Carolina and the highest federal court agreed, at least in part. Ohio and Michigan do not need to immediately draw new congressional maps, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 24.
A new map will be drawn after the 2020 census, under new rules approved by voters last year.
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