Colorado GOP redistricting plan tossed
Tuesday, December 2, 2003
Washington -- The Colorado Supreme Court rejected on Monday a Republican effort to redraw the state's congressional map to the party's advantage, handing Democrats a victory in the first of a series of legal fights that could help determine political control of the House.
The court, in a 5-2 decision, ruled that Colorado 's constitution allowed only one round of congressional redistricting following the decennial census. The judges found that the Republican-controlled Legislature exceeded its authority last May when it tried to replace a map imposed by a federal court in 2002 after the House and Senate deadlocked.
"Having failed to redistrict when it should have, the General Assembly has lost its chance to redistrict until after the 2010 federal census," according to the decision.
The Colorado redistricting preceded a high-profile fight this year in Texas , where the Republican Legislature forced through a new map intended to give Republicans six or more new U.S. House seats in that state and cement its majority. That map is also being challenged by Democrats. The implications of the Colorado decision on the Texas case were uncertain, given the ruling's heavy reliance on state law.
"Ultimately, I am not sure we can draw any inference to any other state," said Carl Forti, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, who said the Colorado finding was not unexpected, given that the majority of the court was appointed by a Democratic governor.
But Democrats said the decision should be seen as a sharp rebuke to Republicans who have used new power in state legislatures to engage in aggressive efforts to draw new congressional maps when in the past such redistricting typically occurred just once a decade.
"The Republican Party's shameless attempts to re-redistrict Texas and Colorado were unprecedented efforts to subvert the will of voters and undermine the results of elections that the GOP couldn't win fair and square," said Rep. Robert Matsui, D-Sacramento, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
In Texas , a three-judge panel is scheduled to begin a trial next week consolidating several challenges to the Texas map. The judges on Monday heard arguments over whether Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the House majority leader who supported the remapping, should be forced along with another Texas congressman to give a deposition about his role.
Also this month, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in a Democratic challenge to Pennsylvania 's map.
At their heart, the redistricting battles are about which party commands the House. Given the relatively narrow Republican majority, a swing of just a seat or two in key states can be crucial.
Even top Democrats concede that if the new Texas map stands, Democratic hopes of picking up the dozen seats needed to recapture the House in 2004 would be greatly diminished.
The Colorado redistricting was intended to solidify Republican hold on two congressional districts -- one held by Rep. Bob Beauprez, who won his 2002 election by fewer than 200 votes, and that of another lawmaker who is retiring.
But Colorado 's attorney general, Ken Salazar, and Rep. Mark Udall, both Democrats, went to court over the map, objecting to the precedent it could set by allowing frequent redistricting with each shift in state political power.
"It would be chaotic," said Udall on Monday as he welcomed the court ruling even though it overturned a map he said would favor him politically by creating a stronger Democratic district. "I thought we had to take a shot at setting in stone the principle that redistricting occurs once every 10 years."
Republicans in Colorado, like those in Texas, argued that the court-drawn maps used in both states were only temporary substitutes and that the Legislatures did not relinquish their right to undertake redistricting on their own if they chose to reopen the process.
Republicans were still evaluating the ruling and made no announcement on whether it would be appealed. A spokeswoman for Secretary of State Donetta Davidson, who defended the redistricting before the Supreme Court, said no decision had been made.
Republicans also said they might now turn to a federal suit over the Colorado redistricting that had been suspended pending the outcome of the state Supreme Court case.
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