Ohio Voters Ask Court to Compel Redistricting Commission to Appear in Open Court and Explain Refusal to Draw Constitutional Maps

Today peti­tion­ers in Ohio Organ­iz­ing Collab­or­at­ive v. Ohio Redis­trict­ing Commis­sion joined a motion filed by the Bennett petitioners with the Ohio Supreme Court that asks the court to enforce its May 25 order to produce constitutionally compliant legislative maps and to schedule a show cause hearing. The Ohio Organizing Collaborative petitioners filed a motion emphasizing the need for the commissioners to appear in open court for a hearing where they must explain why they have refused to follow the court’s orders. The commissioners failed on June 3 to meet a sixth court-issued deadline to draw a new general assembly district plan.

Yurij Rudensky, senior counsel in the Democracy Program at Bren­nan Center for Justice at NYU Law, had the following comment:

“The Ohio Redistricting Commission has behaved as if it is above the law. It isn’t. It has been reconvened by the Ohio Supreme Court to fix constitutional violations, which means the Court dictates the schedule, not the commission. The commissioners must explain the reasons they have refused to do their job and what they will do to draw district maps that meet Ohio’s constitutional standards.”

Brian Sutherland, part­ner at Reed Smith, had the following comment:

“The commis­sion has been treating the court’s orders as voluntary, which undermines basic principles of checks and balances. The commission doesn’t get to choose when or if to follow the law. The people of Ohio deserve to hear from the commissioners themselves, in open court, why they have refused to follow the Ohio Supreme Court’s orders and the state constitution.”

The Bren­nan Center for Justice at NYU Law and Reed Smith repres­ent peti­tion­ers Ohio Organ­iz­ing Collab­or­at­ive, CAIR-Ohio, Ohio Envir­on­mental Coun­cil, Ahmad Aboukar, Crys­tal Bryant, Samuel Gresham Jr., Pren­tiss Haney, Mikayla Lee, and Pier­rette “Petee” Talley.

Both motions and more filings and back­ground on Ohio Organ­iz­ing Collab­or­at­ive v. Ohio Redis­trict­ing Commis­sion are avail­able here.

This press release is also available here.

Resources: 

• “The Ohio Redis­trict­ing Fight Isn’t a Mess. It’s Progress,” by Michael Wald­man, pres­id­ent of the Bren­nan Center 
• “In Court to Fight Ohio’s Gerry­mandered Maps,” by Sam Gresham, peti­tioner and chair of Common Cause Ohio
• “COVID Inequit­ies Show Why Ohio’s Fair Map Mandate Must Not Be Ignored” by Jeniece Brock, policy and advocacy director, Ohio Organ­iz­ing Collab­or­at­ive
• “Ohio Take Note: Fair­ness Is a Univer­sal Value” by Tala Dahbour, policy director, CAIR-Ohio
• “How Gerry­man­der­ing Contrib­utes to Envir­on­mental Injustice” by Callia Téllez, envir­on­mental policy fellow, Ohio Envir­on­mental Coun­cil
• “Lawmakers’ ‘Rigged’ Map Would Steal Ohioans’ Right to Repres­ent­a­tion” by Kath­leen Clyde and Greg Moore, co-chairs, Ohio Citizens Redis­trict­ing Commis­sion
• “We’re Suing Ohio Over Its Gerry­mandered Voting District Maps” by Alicia Bannon, Yurij Rudensky, and Julia Kirschen­baum, Bren­nan Center for Justice