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House GOP files suit over redistricting
BY ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press
FRANKFORT — House Republicans hit hard in a contentious redistricting process struck back Thursday, filing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of newly drawn legislative boundaries that they claim favor Democrats.
House GOP Leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown and other GOP lawmakers asked for an injunction to delay implementing the measure and asked that next Tuesday’s election filing deadline be postponed until the matter is resolved.
Judge Phillip Shepherd scheduled a hearing for 9:30 a.m. CST Monday to consider those issues.
“We have been saying for a couple of weeks now that not only was it unfair to the people of Kentucky, not only did it disenfranchise a lot of folks in Kentucky, but it was unconstitutional,” Hoover told reporters outside Franklin County Circuit Court after the lawsuit was filed.
Frankfort attorney Jason Nemes, representing the Republicans, said the lawsuit could affect both House and Senate redistricting, plus judicial redistricting. All three were dealt with in the same redistricting plan.
“If one part of the bill is declared unconstitutional, then the whole bill is unconstitutional,” Nemes said.
Kentucky now is one of 25 states with pending court cases involving redistricting, said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School who tracks the legal challenges.
Kentucky’s Democratic-controlled House voted largely along party lines on Jan. 12 to redraw boundary lines in a way that sets up Republican versus Republican races in three House districts. One unfortunate Republican would face powerful House Democratic Floor Leader Rocky Adkins in northeastern Kentucky.
Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear signed the measure into law last week.
The lawsuit contends that the new legislative districts could have been better balanced by population, and that they could have been drawn in a way would have required fewer splits in counties and precincts.
Hoover said House Republicans have been placed in districts with larger populations than their Democratic counterparts.
The new lines also produced some oddly shaped state House districts. The 89th stretches from the Tennessee border in McCreary County, zigzags narrowly through Laurel County, then encompasses all of Jackson County for a geographic setup that one lawmaker said would require an airplane for travel.
Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo, a Prestonsburg Democrat, had said population changes, not politics, guided the redistricting measure.
Stumbo said he doesn’t believe a Kentucky judge would issue an injunction without a trial on the merits of the case.
“It takes a very, very, very high showing for a court to issue an injunction based upon a claim that something is unconstitutional,” he said. “Anybody can claim something is unconstitutional.”
With the newly drawn district lines, Reps. Myron Dossett of Pembroke and Ben Waide of Madisonville are together in the 9th District. Reps. Mike Harmon of Danville and Kim King of Harrodsburg would share the 54th District. Reps. C.B. Embry Jr. of Morgantown, Jim DeCesare of Rockfield and Michael Meredith of Brownsville would be together in the 17th District. All are Republicans.
Even Hoover would be paired with a yet-to-be-decided incumbent in the 83rd District under the House proposal. Republican Rep. Jill York of Grayson would face Adkins in the 99th District.
A similar lawsuit filed after the 1990 census established some of the case law that House Republicans would point to in their impending legal challenge.
House GOP Leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown and other GOP lawmakers asked for an injunction to delay implementing the measure and asked that next Tuesday’s election filing deadline be postponed until the matter is resolved.
Judge Phillip Shepherd scheduled a hearing for 9:30 a.m. CST Monday to consider those issues.
“We have been saying for a couple of weeks now that not only was it unfair to the people of Kentucky, not only did it disenfranchise a lot of folks in Kentucky, but it was unconstitutional,” Hoover told reporters outside Franklin County Circuit Court after the lawsuit was filed.
“If one part of the bill is declared unconstitutional, then the whole bill is unconstitutional,” Nemes said.
Kentucky now is one of 25 states with pending court cases involving redistricting, said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School who tracks the legal challenges.
Kentucky’s Democratic-controlled House voted largely along party lines on Jan. 12 to redraw boundary lines in a way that sets up Republican versus Republican races in three House districts. One unfortunate Republican would face powerful House Democratic Floor Leader Rocky Adkins in northeastern Kentucky.
Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear signed the measure into law last week.
The lawsuit contends that the new legislative districts could have been better balanced by population, and that they could have been drawn in a way would have required fewer splits in counties and precincts.
Hoover said House Republicans have been placed in districts with larger populations than their Democratic counterparts.
The new lines also produced some oddly shaped state House districts. The 89th stretches from the Tennessee border in McCreary County, zigzags narrowly through Laurel County, then encompasses all of Jackson County for a geographic setup that one lawmaker said would require an airplane for travel.
Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo, a Prestonsburg Democrat, had said population changes, not politics, guided the redistricting measure.
Stumbo said he doesn’t believe a Kentucky judge would issue an injunction without a trial on the merits of the case.
“It takes a very, very, very high showing for a court to issue an injunction based upon a claim that something is unconstitutional,” he said. “Anybody can claim something is unconstitutional.”
With the newly drawn district lines, Reps. Myron Dossett of Pembroke and Ben Waide of Madisonville are together in the 9th District. Reps. Mike Harmon of Danville and Kim King of Harrodsburg would share the 54th District. Reps. C.B. Embry Jr. of Morgantown, Jim DeCesare of Rockfield and Michael Meredith of Brownsville would be together in the 17th District. All are Republicans.
Even Hoover would be paired with a yet-to-be-decided incumbent in the 83rd District under the House proposal. Republican Rep. Jill York of Grayson would face Adkins in the 99th District.
A similar lawsuit filed after the 1990 census established some of the case law that House Republicans would point to in their impending legal challenge.
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