Supreme Court to hear new redistricting case from Arizona

The Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear another redistricting case out of Arizona, a day after the justices ruled it is constitutional for states to use independent commissions to draw congressional districts.

The new case, Harris v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, now looks at the constitutionality of legislative districts that were drawn up by the state’s independent commission.

The case was brought by a group of Republican Arizona voters who charged that the redistricting commission packed white GOP voters into over-populated districts to give minorities an advantage in Democratic districts. They claim the redistricting violated the 14th Amendment’s one-person, one-vote principle.

{mosads}The commission’s map created a number of heavily Hispanic districts using 2010 census numbers for the 2012 election.

The lower court backed the commission, which argued it was trying to comply with the Voting Rights Act when drawing the district lines. The commission contended they had to show that the new lines didn’t diminish the ability of minority groups to elect candidates of their choice to get the Department of Justice to sign off on the district map, court documents said.

The lower court found that, while the commission might have been trying to boost Democratic prospects in some districts, they were primarily trying to win DOJ approval for the map.

The court is now being asked to decide if the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission correctly used race and political party affiliations to create the Hispanic-heavy districts.

The court will also weigh whether the commission was justified in creating districts that deviate from the one-person, one-vote principle to obtain approval from the Justice Department.