Colorado Supreme Court Throws Out Redistricting Plan GOP-Led Legislature Redrew Congressional Map This Year By William Branigin Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, December 1, 2003; 11:30 AM The Colorado Supreme Court today threw out a controversial Republican-backed redistricting plan in a decision that politicians said could have national implications in congressional elections next year. In its ruling, the full court decided that a Republican redistricting plan, pushed through the state General Assembly in the closing days of this year's session, was unconstitutional because Colorado's congressional districts had already been redrawn in 2002 by a Denver judge after lawmakers could not agree. The Supreme Court decided that under Colorado's 1876 constitution, new congressional boundaries could be drawn only once a decade, following the federal census. "The plain language of this constitutional provision not only requires redistricting after a federal census and before the ensuing general election, but also restricts the legislature from redistricting at any other time," said an opinion delivered by Mary J. Mullarkey, chief justice of the seven-member court. "In short, the state constitution limits redistricting to once per census, and nothing in state or federal law negates this limitation. Having failed to redistrict when it should have, the General Assembly has lost its chance to redistrict until after the 2010 federal census." Two justices issued dissenting opinions in the case, which Mullarkey said pitted "two strongly opposed views of the Colorado constitution" against each other. But the implications of the decision extended far beyond Colorado. If GOP redistricting plans pushed through state legislatures in Colorado and Texas were allowed to stand, political analysts said, similar plans could be enacted in other states. At issue in Colorado were the boundaries of the state's seven congressional districts, two of which are considered up for grabs in the 2004 elections. Republicans currently hold five of the seven seats and were attempting through the redistricting plan to consolidate their hold on two of them to prevent the Democrats from gaining a 4-3 edge on the congressional delegation. In Texas, an even fiercer battle over redistricting is underway, with Democrats challenging another new GOP-engineered congressional map in court. Republicans stand to gain as many as seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2004 elections if their redistricting plan prevails. "The national implications of this are huge," Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Chris Gates said before the Supreme Court decision was announced, according to the Associated Press. "It would mean we'd have two of the most competitive congressional seats in the country." Under the ruling, the state's congressional districts revert to the boundaries that were drawn last year by the judge in Denver. Those boundaries were in force during a 2002 general election in the state. In drawing new boundaries this year, the Republican-controlled state legislature asserted a right to redraw districts as often as it wished. In rejecting that view, the Supreme Court opinion said, "We conclude that the General Assembly does not have the unprecedented power it claims." "We're back to the old maps," said Tom Downey, attorney for the state Democratic Party, the AP reported. "This is a blow to Republicans nationally." He said the Republican effort to redraw Colorado's districts was part of a national plan led by the White House. But Carl Forti, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee in Washington, said a similar challenge to the Colorado districts is pending in federal court in Denver and that the battle is "far from over," the AP reported.
That Colorado redistricting was sure quiet. This is the first I've heard of it. But if their state constitution actually says they can't redraw them in off-times, then they can't. I don't believe our state constitution has that restriction spelled out, though.
