Judge upholds GOP-crafted redistricting maps in Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky Democrats lost an initial round Thursday in their legal fight challenging the new Republican-drawn boundaries for state legislative and congressional districts. In his opinion, Wingate wrote “there is no doubt” that the new boundaries amounted to “partisan gerrymanders.” But he added that Kentucky’s constitution “does not explicitly forbid the consideration of partisan interests in apportioning representation.” Citing separation-of-power considerations, the judge said he would not “overstep the explicit role given to the judiciary in assessing the constitutionality of an apportionment scheme by delving into legislative motive.” House Bill 2 set maps for state House districts, while Senate Bill 3 did so for the six congressional districts. But state Democratic Chair Colmon Elridge said in a statement that the court “clearly held there is ‘no doubt’ that the Republican supermajority engaged in partisan gerrymandering, where elected officials decided who their voters were instead of voters deciding on their elected officials.” Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron praised the ruling, saying: “We are pleased that the court recognized the constitutionality of these laws and the authority of Kentucky’s elected representatives in the General Assembly to create redistricting plans.” Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne, also a Republican, said the ruling confirmed the redistricting plans met “every legal and constitutional requirement.” Beshear, who is not a participant in the lawsuit, said the Democratic-held state House seats that flipped to the GOP came in districts that were “gerrymandered significantly and intentionally.” “And I think if those districts had been run under the old map, that those individuals would have won,” the governor said during his weekly news conference. It contends the state House map divided some of Kentucky’s most populated counties into multiple districts to “dilute the influence” of Democratic voters. Wingate said Thursday that the court’s role is to determine “not whether partisan gerrymandering is morally wrong, but whether the Kentucky Constitution prohibits partisan gerrymandering.” The judge concluded that the constitution “does not expressly prohibit partisan gerrymandering in redistricting and does not require the General Assembly to minimize the number of times that the required split counties are further divided.” The changing boundaries stem from population changes in the past decade.