Colorado Supreme Court Shuts Down Democratic Redistricting

On Monday, Colorado’s Supreme Court unanimously rejected an effort by the Colorado state legislature to engage in a mid-decade redistricting effort through two separate ballot proposals. 

According to the New York Times, the court’s core issue was that the ballot proposals violated the state’s “single subject requirement,” which means a ballot initiative can focus on only one issue/action. Colorado attempted to satisfy that requirement through two separate ballot proposals, one that would’ve approved an off-year redistricting effort, and another that would’ve temporarily transferred control of the state’s maps from an independent redistricting committee to the state legislature. The core issue was that both proposals included a clause stating that one measure wouldn’t be enacted unless the other also passed. 

“​​We conclude that the result is not different and that when a measure’s effectiveness is expressly contingent on the passage of a separate and independent measure, the measure contains multiple subjects, just as if the measures were combined into one,” Justice Richard L. Gabriel wrote. 

“Changing the constitutionally mandated frequency of redistricting — however temporary the change — is not merely a mechanism to administer the new congressional district map,” Chief Justice Monica Marquez added. “Instead, it represents a seismic shift to Colorado’s longstanding redistricting process enshrined in the state constitution.” 

Over the last year, several Republican-led states have triggered mid-decade redistricting efforts to draw congressional maps that allow the GOP to maintain its majority in Congress without doing anything to benefit the American people. While a few blue states have tried to counterpunch, many of those efforts have failed.

“The success of this partisan attempt to sideline Coloradans from responding to Donald Trump’s unprecedented mid-decade redistricting scheme is disappointing,” Curtis Hubbard, a spokesperson for Coloradans for a Level Playing Field, told The Times. “While Trump and his MAGA allies regularly sidestep the law and ignore voters, efforts to respond have once again been dealt a legal setback over a technicality.” 

The reason so many red states have successfully pulled off redistricting efforts is that control of those states’ maps lies with the state legislature. Conversely, many blue states have independent, nonpartisan redistricting committees that control the maps. Many of those committees were formed through constitutional amendments, which means that state legislatures have to jump through several hoops in order to regain control of the maps. 

So far, California is the only Democratic state to successfully execute a mid-decade redistricting effort. Virginia attempted to get in on the action, successfully passing a constitutional amendment twice before voters approved a measure that would allow the state legislature to redraw the state’s congressional maps to give Democrats a 10-1 advantage. State Republicans filed several lawsuits against that effort, with Virginia’s Supreme Court ruling that the redistricting process was invalid as early voting was already underway when the state legislature first voted on the constitutional amendment. 

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) pushed for a redistricting effort last fall, but it didn’t have the votes in the state legislature. While Democrats control the state legislature, Senate President Bill Ferguson pushed back against the effort, noting that Democrats already hold 10 of the state’s 11 House seats. Ferguson believed that gerrymandering the map any further could result in legal challenges that would ultimately create more districts favoring Republicans. 

The truly sad thing about this is that Democratic states did the right thing by creating independent redistricting committees. Back when America at least tried to act as if norms actually mattered, independent redistricting was a way to avoid hyperpartisan gerrymandering. In doing the right thing, Democrats have unfortunately provided Republicans yet another avenue to exploit in their never-ending pursuit of one-party rule. 

Nothing says we live in a well-functioning democracy quite like a political party redrawing congressional maps to avoid the consequences of poor governing. 

SEE ALSO:

Virginia Supreme Court Set To Rule On Redistricting Effort

Maryland’s Redistricting Effort Officially Fails

Colorado Supreme Court Shuts Down Democratic Redistricting Plan was originally published on newsone.com