( Washington D.C. ) - In a 5-4 vote, The Supreme Court says federal courts have no role to play in policing political districts drawn for partisan gain.
In a case involving North Carolina and Maryland, justices ruled that claims of partisan gerrymandering do not belong in federal court, because they cannot decide an issue that is up to state legislatures.
The ruling affects Ohio as well. A federal judge panel recently ruled Ohio's congressional map was unconstitutional, saying it was drawn to favor Republican voters. The panel ordered a new map to drawn before the 2020 election, but today's decision means that won't happen.
Ohio voters recently approved fixing the way the congressional map is drawn, however any changes won't being happen until 2022.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement, "Ohio voters already elected to redesign our line-drawing process by a Constitutional Amendment. Power to legislate belongs to the legislature, or to the people — not to the courts. Today's decision is in line with these principles."
The Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, David Pepper, called the decision disappointing. He says, "we think extreme gerrymandering undermines democracy and the courts should play a roll to stop it. It's basically rigging elections."
Pepper telling 700WLW, while he's disappointed that things will not change in 2020, he's happy that the Ohio voters decided to end gerrymandering in 2022.