Judge Orders Michigan Voting Districts Redrawn for 2020 Due to Republican Gerrymandering

By Lauren Gibbons, MLive

26 April 19

ichigan’s Congressional and legislative districts are unconstitutionally gerrymandered and need to be redrawn prior to the 2020 election, a federal three-judge panel ruled Thursday afternoon.

The judges ruled in favor of the League of Women Voters and Democratic plaintiffs who alleged in a lawsuit the state’s last redistricting process gave an unfair advantage to Republicans and violated voters’ Constitutional rights. They found 27 of the 34 districts challenged in the suit violate the plaintiffs’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by diluting the weight of their votes, and that all 34 violate their First Amendment right to association.

Under the order issued by U.S. Circuit Judges Eric Clay and Denise Hood and U.S. District Judge Gordon Quist, lawmakers have until Aug. 1, 2019 to redraw Michigan’s Congressional and legislative political districts in a way the court deems constitutionally acceptable, otherwise the court will draw lines for them.

The judges also ordered a special election in 2020 for state Senate districts. Michigan Senators, who last stood for election in 2018, are elected to four-year terms, meaning under normal circumstances they would next be up for election in 2022.

“Today, this Court joins the growing chorus of federal courts that have, in recent years, held that partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional,” the judges wrote. “We find that the Enacted Plan violates Plaintiffs’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights because it deliberately dilutes the power of their votes by placing them in districts that were intentionally drawn to ensure a particular partisan outcome in each district.”

The districts called into question for unconstitutional “packing” or “cracking” voters into certain districts in the lawsuit were: Congressional Districts 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12; Senate Districts 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 22, 27, 32, and 36; and House Districts 24, 32, 51, 52, 55, 60, 62, 63, 75, 76, 83, 91, 92, 94, and 95.

The changes to Michigan’s existing political districts would only impact the 2020 election. An independent redistricting commission, which voters supported with the passage of Proposal 2, will draw new political districts by the 2022 election using 2020 census data.