The Court Speaks: Justices Reveal their Positions on Redistricting

On June 7, 2004, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear a Republican appeal for a new Congressional map for Colorado.

Four votes are needed to review a case, but the Court fell short, since six justices voted to let the lower court’s decision stand, and only three, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, voted to hear Republicans’ arguments.

Colorado redistricting

Most of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices voted to uphold the Colorado Supreme Court decision to block a Republican effort to redistrict the state.

Here’s what happened: After the 2000 census, Colorado needed to draw new Congressional districts in order to keep up with shifts in population. However, the state legislature couldn’t agree on how and where the new lines should be drawn, and their dispute postponed the new Congressional map for nearly two years. So, finally in 2002, the new districts were drawn up by a state court. The court’s map created a more competitive Colorado by adding a new 7th district and redrawing other districts to be more evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

Nevertheless, Republicans gained control of the Colorado legislature in 2002. But they weren’t happy with the stiff competition - one Republican, Bob Beauprez, barely squeaked by with only 121 votes over his challenger. So with control of the legislature, Republicans decided to redraw the map in their favor.

Democrats took the Republican map to court, arguing that the Colorado state constitution allows for only one redistricting effort per ten-year census. The Colorado Supreme Court agreed, thereby reinstating the court-drawn map.

Republican P.O.V.

Republicans decided to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the legislature has the right to create and impose its own map and that the court-ordered map was just temporary. More specifically, Republicans argued the U.S. Constitution’s "elections clause," which gives state legislatures, not state courts, power over Congressional elections. From the Republicans point of view, the court-ordered map does not count, and the map created by the legislature in 2003 should be instated.

Dissention

Chief Justice Rehnquist’s opinion (which was signed by both Scalia and Thomas) supports Republicans’ claims. He says that the Colorado Supreme Court made a "debatable interpretation" of federal law when it validated the court-ordered map. For this reason, the three justices feel that the appeal should be considered.

Some say that Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas’ dissent is political, since the three usually defer to state power. A June 11, 2004 New York Times Opinion-Editorial argues that the dissenters should have followed the Supreme Court’s long-held tradition of respecting state Supreme Court decisions that interpret that state’s constitution.

More on redistricting

Although redistricting deals with maps and population shifts, it is not a dull mathematical process. Rather, it is typically a lively political battle that directly affects the outcome of elections.

Through the redrawing of district boundaries, a predominantly Democratic district can be transformed into a Republican one, and vice versa. Boundaries can be re-sketched to slice a voting block into pieces, causing it to dissolve into the surrounding districts and be overcome by them. As the Colorado map demonstrates, redistricting can also create an entirely new Democratic or Republican district, a change that can drastically shift the balance of power in the legislature. Clearly then, both parties want influence over redistricting.

The issue of redistricting emphasizes the importance of the political parties. When we vote, we are not only voting for an individual, but supporting a political philosophy.

Texas and Pennsylvania are also fighting redistricting battles. To read more about them, click here.

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Update Posted on: 6/15/2004