Ohio Federal Court Throws Out Congressional Map Due To Gerrymandering

Ohio will have to redraw district lines before the 2020 elections after having them thrown out by a federal judge on Friday.

The ruling was reached by a panel of three judges from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio who tossed out the current district lines Ohio had. The decision was reached after the panel decided district lines were drawn “to disadvantage Democratic voters and entrench Republican representatives in power.”

They further explain that the current map is in violation and exceeds Ohio’s power under Article I of the Constitution and violates voters’ rights to choose their representative.

The case originally came about because of rights groups like the ACLU and the League of Women Voters swing the state of Ohio in 2018 because of how its districts were drawn. Their argument was that Republicans redrew congressional lines in 2011 to maintain a three-to-one voting advantage.

Aside from the lawsuit, there was also a ballot initiative that passed overwhelmingly in May 2018 meant to challenge state gerrymandering. The amendment would require a congressional map that has stood for 10 years to have over 50 percent support from the minority party. If not, a bipartisan committee would redraw the map. However, this wouldn’t take effect until 2020.

This decision also comes on the heels of Michigan’s federal court striking down the map as unconstitutional as well for similar reasons.

It is suspected that the decision will be appealed in the U.S. Supreme Court that is also hearing similar cases of gerrymandering from Maryland and North Carolina.