Recycled maps; unconstitutional gerrymanders

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Another Unconstitutional Map
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Ohio’s redistricting nightmare continues.

To recap where we’ve been: so far, the Ohio Supreme Court has told the Ohio Republican Party four times that the maps they have passed out of the Republican-dominated Redistricting Committee are unconstitutional gerrymanders. You probably remember that a few weeks ago, after the last time the Ohio Supreme Court deemed their maps unconstitutional gerrymanders, the Republican Party begged a federal court to intervene.

That federal court told the Ohio Republican Party that if it didn’t get its act together and pass constitutional maps, the court would order Ohio to use the third set of (unconstitutional) maps.

We reacted pretty strongly to that result, in part because that federal court was overstepping its bounds by interpreting Ohio state law differently than how Ohio’s highest court had interpreted and applied that law just weeks before.

But besides that, the court was naive in assuming Republicans would act in good faith (not a reasonable assumption, as shown by their past behavior) and their ruling just rewarded the Republicans for violating the Ohio constitution. We were concerned at the time that Republicans would just run out the clock and prove, once again, that they have no intention of adhering to the law or respecting the voters’ demand for fairness.

Our fears were realized.

Tonight, after weeks of unnecessary delay, the Republican-dominated Ohio Redistricting Commission voted to submit to the Ohio Supreme Court the third set of maps. Yes, the very same set of maps our Ohio Supreme Court already found unconstitutional. Yes, the very same set of maps the federal court said it would apply if Republicans didn’t pass constitutional maps.

It’s stunning.

These hacks just knowingly passed an unconstitutional map and directly defied an order of the Ohio Supreme Court—with no legitimate excuse.

No other litigant would ever get away with this. They shouldn’t either.

So ... where do we go from here?

The Ohio Supreme Court has the final say on what the law of Ohio is. They have ample time to get this right before the federal court orders an unconstitutional map into place.

The Courts—both state and federal— can still resuscitate the rule of law here in Ohio.

Onward,
David.

P.S. It’s clear from the Republican Party’s lawlessness that they need to be held accountable, and that’s going to require a group effort.

So two weeks ago we launched Blue Ohio ( www.BlueOhio.org ( [link removed] ) ) – a community of people who will hold Republicans to account by supporting Democratic nominees for state legislature. 100% of the funds donated to the nominees go to the nominees; Blue Ohio grows and sustains itself based on tips. And if you join at $10/month or more, you’re automatically invited to our virtual “brown bag” lunches where we get together and talk about what’s going on in the statehouse and what we can do to help.

Our first Blue Ohio community virtual brown bag lunch will be on May 20, and no doubt these redistricting cases will be a major topic of discussion. So join us in supporting our Democratic state legislative nominees, and creating the community that will finally hold these Republicans accountable. If you’ve not yet become a member, join us today.

Hold Republicans Accountable: Join Blue Ohio Today ( [link removed] )

David Pepper

Blue Ohio, a joint project of David Pepper and It Starts Today, 237 Florida Ave NW , Washington , DC 20001

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