Case Summary
The League of Women Voters of Ohio moved to intervene in a federal lawsuit where plaintiffs asked the court to impose a state legislative redistricting plan that had been rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court for failing to comply with the Ohio Constitution’s ban on partisan gerrymandering.
In 2015, Ohio voters amended the Ohio Constitution to ban partisan gerrymandering. After the 2020 Census, two legislative redistricting plans were struck down by the Ohio Supreme Court for failing to comply with the Ohio Constitution’s ban on partisan gerrymandering. The Ohio Redistricting Commission failed to produce compliant maps by the court-imposed deadline of February 17, 2022. The Ohio supreme court then initiated contempt proceedings against the Commission’s members.
On February 18, 2022, a group of individual Ohio voters filed a federal lawsuit, asking the court to implement a legislative redistricting plan that had been struck down by the Ohio Supreme Court for being a partisan gerrymander. The League of Women Voters of Ohio (LWVO), together with the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, filed a motion to intervene on February 20, 2022, on behalf of Ohio voters. The League urged the federal court to abstain from acting on the plaintiffs’ request while the Ohio Supreme Court resolved the Commission’s failure to draw constitutional legislative districts.
The federal court ordered that unless the Commission and Ohio Supreme Court agreed upon a map by May 28, 2022, it would move the primary election to August 2, 2022, and impose a map that had been previously rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court as unconstitutional. The federal court justified this move by noting that many counties had already begun loading the map into their systems, and statutory periods for candidate residency and registration had already gone into effect. The court stated this map would only be used for the upcoming November election. The Commission failed to produce a new map and the court’s order went into effect.
LWVO was represented by Covington and Burling, LLP, the ACLU Foundation of Ohio, Inc., and the ACLU.
LWV Timeline
Plaintiffs file complaint
A group of Ohio voters file a complaint requesting the federal court to impose a state legislative redistricting plan due to the impasse between the Ohio Redistricting Commission and the Ohio Supreme Court.
LWVO moves to intervene in the case
The League of Women Voters of Ohio and A. Phillip Randolph Institute file a motion to intervene in support of the defendants, requesting the court abstain from intervening while the Ohio Supreme Court resolved the impasse.
Court grants preliminary injunction
The court grants the plaintiffs’ motion, giving the Commission a deadline of May 28, 2022, to implement a new legislative map. Under the court’s order, if the Commission failed to do so, it would impose a map previously rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court and move the primary election to August 2, 2022.
Court implements order
The court issues a further order implementing its order from April, instructing the state to implement legislative maps previously passed by the Commission and struck down by the Ohio Supreme Court if new maps were not passed by midnight, May 28, 2022.