As time runs short, federal judges weigh process to redraw some Michigan legislative districts

[RandySF]

It would be a “foolhardy” gamble for the court to put all its chips on the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) fixing its legislative maps given current circumstances, U.S. Circuit Judge Raymond M. Kethledge said Friday as he and two other federal judges attempted in a Kalamazoo court to chart the best path forward as another statewide election looms.

In a unanimous decision last year, Kethledge and U.S. District Court Judges Paul L. Maloney and Janet T. Neff, sided with a group of Black metro Detroit voters who raised legal action against the new voting districts the commission drew in 2021. On Dec. 21, the judges found that the MICRC had drawn several of its voting districts based primarily off of race, leading to Black voting power in metro Detroit being diluted.

The judges ruled that 13 state House and Senate districts in the Detroit area be redrawn. Now the judges, commission and plaintiffs who brought the legal action are trying to work out solutions alongside the Secretary of State’s Office to ensure maps can be redrawn and ready for elections this year.

The MICRC was created by a 2018 constitutional amendment passed by voters. The 13-member body has four Republicans, four Democrats and five independents and drew the maps used for the first time during the 2022 election. Previously, the Legislature would design new districts every 10 years and the governor would sign off.




https://michiganadvance.com/2024/01/05/as-time-runs-short-federal-judges-weigh-process-to-redraw-some-michigan-legislative-districts/

[MichMan]

1. The commission is going to delay redrawing them even longer by appealing to the SC

[RandySF]

2. Republicans paid for the lawsuit.

[MichMan]

3. The courts ruled the districts the commission created violated the VRA and disenfranchised Black voters

Do you think the court should have ruled against them?

[RandySF]

4. The judges were all George W. Bush appointees.

The Republicans are playing an age old game of working with Black Democrats to siphon Democrati voters away from more marginal districts.

[MichMan]

5. If it goes to the SC, which way do you think the vote will go ?

Which SC justices do you believe will rule in favor of Black Detroit voters and which ones will vote against them ? It will be interesting

[RandySF]

6. Against the commission because the ruling siphons Democratic from the suburban districts.