Kansas Supreme Court declines to dismiss lawsuits challenging new congressional maps
Lawsuits alleging that Kansas Republicans gerrymandered the state’s congressional map will remain in district court, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled on Friday, in an early setback to Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who is defending the new district lines.
The high court on Friday denied the Republican attorney general’s request to dismiss three pending court challenges in Wyandotte and Douglas counties and have the justices take them up immediately. The Republican-controlled Legislature last month approved the new map over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto and lawsuits were swiftly brought by residents alleging the redrawn boundaries violate the state constitution.
Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Caleb Stegall said the cases should play out where they were originally filed. Just because the issue is of statewide importance, he wrote, does not mean the high court has discretion to intervene and dismiss a district court case.
The decision may quickly lead to a flurry of filings and hearings before district court judges, who will be the first to rule on whether the new map infringes upon state constitutional rights to free speech, equal protection and suffrage. The challenges will unfold like a typical lawsuit, for now, but at a speedy pace.
Stegall, an appointee of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, wrote that in light of the importance of resolving the challenges, “we encourage the parties in the pending district court litigation to work with the district courts to expeditiously resolve the legal questions” so that any appeals can be quickly filed.
The map splits Wyandotte County along Interstate 70, moving the northern half from the 3rd to the 2nd Congressional District and shifting Lawrence from the 2nd Congressional District to the 1st. The lawsuits argue that the changes constitute a political and racial gerrymander.
The ACLU of Kansas, Campaign Legal Center, Loud Light Civic Action, Democracy Docket and Democrat Patrick Schmidt’s congressional campaign are bringing the challenges on behalf of Kansas residents.
“We’re obviously happy with this ruling,”ACLU of Kansas Executive Director Micah Kubic said in a statement. “Still, there’s a lot of work yet ahead of us in defending democracy and protecting the rights of Kansans, especially the voters of Wyandotte County, Johnson County, and Lawrence.”
In a statement, Schmidt said his office had hoped to resolve the questions in the case “more quickly and efficiently” by sending them directly to the Supreme Court.
“But today’s decision requires we resolve them the slower and potentially far more expensive way by starting in the trial courts, so that is what we will do,” Schmidt said.
Historically, redistricting challenges in Kansas have played out in federal courts. GOP leaders in the Legislature voted last week to hire a Kansas City law firm to represent the Legislature in the proceedings out of concern that a state-level challenge would create a new body of law reducing the power of the Legislature to draw congressional maps.
The Wyandotte County cases are scheduled for a joint hearing on March 25. A spokesperson for Senate President Ty Masterson said Friday that the Legislature may need to remain in session until the lawsuits had been fully resolved so they can redraw maps if the court rejects them.
