Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor is about to appoint a Master Commissioner to review the apportionment maps that the Redistricting Commission has passed. The intent of the Democrats on the court is to draw their own maps, not what the Redistricting Commission approved. Ohio voters in 2015 approved an amendment to the Ohio Constitution that authorized the Ohio Redistricting Commission to draw the maps, not the Ohio Supreme Court. The Commission, with the Legislature, has the duty to approve the maps, not the state Supreme Court. Please read the dissenting opinion by Justices Sharon Kennedy, Pat DeWine, and Patrick Fisher after the court’s February 7th decision in which the Democrats, along with Maureen O’Connor, rejected the apportionment maps that were drawn and approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission.
KENNEDY and DEWTNE, JJ., dissenting.
{172} We dissent from the majority's pronouncement that the revised
General Assembly-district plan violates Article XI, Sections 6(A) and 6(B) of the
Ohio Constitution and is therefore invalid. And we disagree with the majority's
decision to retain jurisdiction over this case and to set arbitrary time limitations and new rules for the Ohio Redistricting Commission's work that have no basis in the text of the Ohio Constitution.
{173} It is apparent that m disregard of constitutional standards, four
members of this court have now commandeered the redistricting process and that they will continue to reject any General Assembly-district plan until they get the plan they want. It would simplify matters if the commission would just provide the majority with the map-drawing software, Maptitude, so that they can draw the map themselves. At this point, one must wonder which seven-member body is the true redistricting commission-the constitutionally named officers or this court?
Now Maureen O’Connor and the court’s Democrats are trying to commandeer the redistricting process. This is not what the Ohio voters passed on the ballot in 2015. Call your state representatives today and urge them to take action and stop the court from drawing the maps.
