Ohio Supreme Court Rejects Third Set of Legislative Maps Over Partisan Gerrymandering

Last night, the Ohio Supreme Court struck down the third set of legislative maps drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission. In a 4–3 ruling, the court found that the maps, like predecessors, violated the state’s constitutional prohibitions against partisan gerrymandering and its proportionality standards. The court said the commission should retain an independent map drawer to produce a new set of state legislative plans by March 28 and draft the maps in a series of public meetings. On February 28, the peti­tion­ers in Ohio Organ­iz­ing Collab­or­at­ive v. Ohio Redis­trict­ing Commis­sion filed objec­tions with the court arguing the maps viol­ated the Ohio consti­tu­tion.

The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law and Reed Smith represent the petitioners: the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, CAIR-Ohio, Ohio Environmental Council, Ahmad Aboukar, Crystal Bryant, Samuel Gresham Jr., Prentiss Haney, Mikayla Lee, and Pierrette “Petee” Talley.

Alicia Bannon, director of the Judiciary Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, had the following comment:

“For a third time, the Ohio Supreme Court has ordered the Ohio Redistricting Commission to redraw its legislative maps because the commissioners failed to comply with the state constitution, specifically its ban on partisan gerrymandering that exists because 71% of Ohio’s electorate voted for it. Yet the question remains: when will the commission act fairly in the public interest and fulfill its duty? The commission’s flagrant disregard for the will of the people must come to an end. It is past time for the commissioners to honor their obligations to the constitution and the voters.”

Brian Sutherland, partner at Reed Smith, had the following comment:

“The commission now has an obligation to do the right thing: proceed with transparency, draft a plan with the full participation of all commission members, and finally heed the Ohio constitution. Anything short of this is unacceptable.”

The court’s order, the peti­tion­ers’ objec­tions, and more filings and back­ground on Ohio Organ­iz­ing Collab­or­at­ive v. Ohio Redis­trict­ing Commis­sion are avail­able here.

Resources: 

• “Petitioners Ask Ohio Supreme Court to Reject Redrawn Legislative Maps and Order Commission to Consider Rodden Maps,” Bren­nan Center for Justice press release, Feb. 28, 2022
• “Ohio Voters File Motion to Inter­vene in Federal Redis­trict­ing Suit that Would Impose Unfair Maps,” Bren­nan Center for Justice press release, Feb. 25, 2022 
• “Ohio Supreme Court Orders Second Redraw­ing of Legis­lat­ive Maps Due to Partisan Gerry­man­der­ing,” Bren­nan Center for Justice press release, Feb. 7, 2022 
• “Victory for Ohioans: Ohio Supreme Court Throws Out Legis­lat­ive Maps for Illegal Partisan Gerry­man­der­ing,” Bren­nan Center for Justice press release, Jan. 12, 2022 
• “COVID Inequit­ies Show Why Ohio’s Fair Map Mandate Must Not Be Ignored” by Jeniece Brock, policy and advocacy director, Ohio Organ­iz­ing Collab­or­at­ive 
• “Ohio Take Note: Fair­ness Is a Univer­sal Value” by Tala Dahbour, policy director, CAIR-Ohio
• “How Gerry­man­der­ing Contrib­utes to Envir­on­mental Injustice” by Callia Téllez, envir­on­mental policy fellow, Ohio Envir­on­mental Coun­cil 
• “Lawmaker’s ‘Rigged’ Map Would Steal Ohioans’ Right to Repres­ent­a­tion” by Kath­leen Clyde and Greg Moore, co-chairs, Ohio Citizens Redis­trict­ing Commis­sion 
• “We’re Suing Ohio Over Its Gerry­mandered Voting District Maps” by Alicia Bannon, Yurij Rudensky, and Julia Kirschen­baum, Bren­nan Center for Justice