GOP lawmakers in Michigan and Ohio win SCOTUS stay in political gerrymandering cases
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed court rulings ordering Michigan and Ohio to create new electoral maps because they were drawn to benefit Republicans.
The Supreme Court granted the stays as it considers partisan gerrymandering cases in North Carolina and Maryland, report Courthouse News Service, the New York Times and the Washington Post. The court heard oral arguments in those cases in March.
Federal panels had ordered the states of Ohio and Michigan to draw new electoral maps that could be used in the 2020 elections.
Under the Ohio map, Republicans hold 12 out of 16 congressional seats while winning 52% of the statewide vote. In Michigan, a federal panel found that 34 congressional and state legislative districts were drawn to benefit Republicans.
Among the issues in the North Carolina and Maryland cases before the Supreme Court are whether federal courts can hear challenges to partisan gerrymandering and who has standing to sue.
