The AP is reporting that the Colorado Supreme Court has struck down the state legislature’s re-redistricting scheme, saying the GOP-led legislature redrew the maps in violation of the state constitution.
You may recall that Republicans in Colorado were doing something similar to the Texas GOP by unveiling re-redistricting efforts this year. While Texas’ problem is more severe — and the state Dems’ tactics of fleeing the state were more dramatic — Colorado has endured a similar controversy.
Colorado’s population growth led to a new congressional district, its 7th, beginning in 2002. When the state legislature, divided along party lines, could not agree on a new map, the issue went to a state judge. He drew the lines as fairly as possible — the new district was one-third Democratic, one-third Republican, and one-third Independent. A few months later, on Election Day 2002, it came as a surprise to no one that the House race in the new 7th district turned out to be one of the closest in America, with Rep. Bob Beauprez (R) winning the seat by just 121 votes.
Just as in Texas, however, once Republicans seized control of both chambers of Colorado’s legislature, they decided to ignore legislative procedures and started redrawing the district lines more to their liking. Once they were done, the evenly-divided and competitive district had a strong GOP majority, practically guaranteeing a Republican representative for the rest of the decade.
Republicans in the legislature weren’t shy about their motivations. State Senate President John Andrews said the purpose was to produce “a Congress…where Republicans hold the majority.”
Colorado Democrats sued, saying the GOP cannot legally to revisit the redistricting process more than once each decade. Today, the state Supreme Court agreed and found the new lines unconstitutional.
While the state GOP argued that the judge-drawn district boundries created last year were “temporary,” the state high court ruled today that the Colorado Constitution requires redistricting just once after the Census — and that the legislature can’t have another shot at it.
“Because the General Assembly failed to redistrict during this constitutional window, it relinquished its authority to redistrict until after the 2010 census,” the decision explained. “There is no language empowering the General Assembly to redistrict more frequently or at any other time.”
If the decision stands, it may have a national impact. Republicans in Colorado weren’t the only ones interested in off-year redistricting schemes; GOP lawmakers in Ohio and Texas were also cooking the books to elect more Republicans to Congress. Today’s ruling, therefore, may have an effect in blocking these efforts elsewhere.
This is excellent news. If all the re-redistricting schemes are rejected as illegal, it makes it far more likely that the Dems will be able to compete for a House majority next November.