NRAF Statement on SCOTUS Declining to Take Up Ohio Republican Gerrymandering Case
For Immediate Release
June 30, 2023
Contact
Jena Doyle
doyle@redistrictingaction.org
NRAF Statement on SCOTUS Declining to Take Up Ohio Republican Gerrymandering Case
This marks NDRC Affiliates’ 5th victory before SCOTUS this term
Washington, D.C. — Today, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to take up Huffman v. Neiman, a Republican appeal arguing a more extreme version of the independent state legislature (ISL) theory than what was pursued in Moore v. Harper.
In addition to asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the Ohio Supreme Court does not have the authority to serve as a check over the state legislature regarding federal elections, including congressional redistricting, Ohio Republicans went further to argue that the redistricting reform enacted by the Ohio voters through a ballot initiative – now enshrined in the state’s constitution – is unenforceable. The appeal asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Ohio State Supreme Court’s decision in Neiman v. LaRose, in which the state supreme court held that the state’s Republican-drawn congressional map is unconstitutional and ordered the redraw of a congressional map that is compliant with the Ohio Constitution.
This marks the fifth victory for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) and affiliates before the Supreme Court of the United States this term. The underlying state lawsuit, Neiman v. LaRose, was initiated by the National Redistricting Action Fund (NRAF), the 501(c)(4) affiliate of the NDRC.
John Bisognano, President of the National Redistricting Action Fund (NRAF), issued the following statement:
“The fact that Ohio Republicans filed such a dangerous lawsuit in the first place underscores their arrogance and greed for artificial power. Despite losing in state court seven times, they ignored the voters, state law, and their state’s highest court, and forced Ohioans to vote on unconstitutional, gerrymandered maps. They are willing to do anything to gerrymander — even if it means undermining checks and balances and nullifying state laws enacted directly by the people. The fight against these anti-democratic forces goes on in Ohio.”
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
The Ohio Supreme Court’s order requiring a new map was the result of a lawsuit filed in March 2022 by Ohio voters supported by the NRAF in their ongoing effort to secure a fair congressional map. In July 2022, the Ohio Supreme Court struck down the state’s second congressional map as a partisan gerrymander. The second map, passed by the Republican-controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission in March, made some changes to the state’s original congressional map – though not nearly enough to make it actually fair. The first map was passed by Republicans in the state legislature in November 2021 and invalidated as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander by the Ohio Supreme Court, in an earlier NRAF lawsuit, on January 14, 2022.
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