The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected a Republican-backed redistricting plan for a second time, maintaining the proposed state House and Senate district maps must be redrawn because they overly favor Republican candidates.
In a 4-3 decision on Monday, the court ordered the Ohio Redistricting Commission to create a new plan and file it with the secretary of state’s office by Feb. 17. The majority of justices said the map does not meet voter-approved provisions to reduce gerrymandering, marking the second blow to the map proposal after its initial rejection last month.
“The revised plan does not attempt to closely correspond to that constitutionally defined ratio. Our instruction to the commission is—simply—to comply with the Constitution,” the court wrote in its majority opinion.
OHIO SUPREME COURT REJECTS NEW STATEHOUSE MAPS
In a state where President Donald Trump beat Democratic nominee Joe Biden 54% to 46% in 2020, the latest map the court rejected would likely have produced a 57-42 advantage in the state House and a 20-13 edge in the state Senate. The map rejected in January aimed to make the GOP state House edge 62-37 and 23-10 in the state Senate.
In a dissenting opinion, the court’s three Republican justices, Pat DeWine, who is Gov. Mike DeWine’s son; Pat Fischer; and Sharon Kennedy, said they would have upheld the redrawn map, saying the state’s constitution does not give the court authority to enforce political standards.
Democrats likened the commission’s maps as “gerrymandered wish lists,” arguing the state’s majority party should create a better map to give “Ohioans an equal voice.”
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“Third time’s the charm. The Ohio Supreme Court once again rejected GOP attempts to gerrymander our state and disenfranchise Ohio voters,” the Ohio Democratic Party wrote in a statement.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Ohio Redistricting Commission but did not receive a response.
