Gerrymandering decision order to redraw Michigan political districts could affect other cases and state legislatures

“We’ve had just a growing number of courts across the country take a stand for voters and say partisan gerrymandering violates the rights of voters and it’s unconstitutional,” Julia Vaughan, Common Cause of Indiana, said.

On Thursday, a panel of three federal judges ruled that 34 congressional and state legislative districts in Michigan are extremely partisan gerrymanders and unconstitutional. State lawmakers were ordered to redraw maps in readiness for 2020 elections.

The Eastern District of Michigan court “joins the growing chorus of federal courts that have, in recent years, held that partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional,” the court said in its 146-page ruling.

By favoring Republicans, Michigan’s apportionment plan violates voters First and 14th Amendment rights, the court said, “because it deliberately dilutes the power of their votes by placing them in districts that were intentionally drawn to ensure a particular partisan outcome in each district.”

The complaint was filed in 2017 by the League of Women Voters of Michigan, which was co-represented by attorneys in the Indianapolis office of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP. The state of Michigan could appeal the decision, which favored the League of Women Voters.

“For now what the court has done has stated in the strongest words that this sort of partisanship in the redistricting process is clearly too much and it goes over the line in terms of the Constitutional protections voters are afforded,” Kevin Toner, counsel with Faegre Baker Daniels, said.

The Michigan decision does not directly affect Indiana politics but might be in legislators’ minds when state redistricting is conducted after the federal 2020 Census.

“I’m hopeful that legislatures around the country, including Indiana, will look to these sort of decisions and it will serve as bit of caution to them as they go through the process and it will encourage them to be fair when we go through the next census in 2020,” Toner said.

The League, along with 11 voters, filed the federal complaint against Michigan’s then-Secretary of State Ruth Johnson.

“The state will now draw new district lines before the next federal election, which now will better reflect the makeup of the voters — not the interests of the politicians,” Judy Karandjeff, President of the League of Women Voters, said in a statement.

A determining factor in the success of the case may rely on the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected by late June to issue an opinion in two partisan gerrymander cases involving congressional districts in Maryland and North Carolina. The Supreme Court ruling decision could overrule the Michigan ruling, reinforce it or make changes.

“Hopefully another court weighing in in yet another state will spur the Supreme Court to take action,” Vaughan said.