Ohio Supreme Court Rejects GOP-Drawn Congressional Maps for Second Time
The Ohio Supreme Court struck down a Republican-authored congressional map this week, saying it violates anti-gerrymandering rules found in the state constitution.
The court gave Ohio lawmakers 30 days to redesign the map for the 2024 elections.
If they cannot reach a consensus, the Ohio Redistricting Commission will have 30 days to adopt the congressional map.
In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled that the map was slightly more favorable to Democrats than one rejected earlier this year, but it “unduly favors” the Republican party.
Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican; and Democratic party Justices Michael P. Donnelly, Melody Stewart, and Jennifer Brunner, comprised the majority opinion.
Republican Justices Sharon L. Kennedy, Patrick F. Fischer, and R. Patrick DeWine dissented.
Six other times this year—including five times on state legislative maps—the same combination of justices has come to a similar decision.
Since primaries were held in May using the districts as presented in the rejected map, that map will be used in the November general election.
The majority agreed with plaintiff experts who said Republicans created the map to enhance their chances of winning general elections and again split the Akron, Cincinnati, and Cleveland regions in a way that would reduce Democrats’ chances of winning a fair share of Ohio’s 15 congressional districts.
As an example, they explained that splitting Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati, forms one heavily Republican district and one slightly Democratic district.
The map places Democratic voters “into a few dense Democratic-leaning districts, thereby increasing the Republican vote share of the remaining districts.
As a result, districts that would otherwise be strongly Democratic-leaning are now competitive or Republican-leaning districts,” the majority opinion read.
Justice Sharon Kennedy is running for Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court in November against Democratic Justice Jennifer Brunner (Courtesy of Sharon Kennedy/Facebook)
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