Ohio to use GOP-friendly maps for state-level elections, federal court rules

A federal panel ordered Ohio to enact a slate of GOP-friendly state-level maps previously deemed unconstitutional for this year’s midterm elections.
The panel opted to intervene after the Buckeye State blew past a deadline last week, failing to have a map in place for its state congressional districts by Saturday in defiance of a prior order from the federal judges. The slate of maps, known as Map 3, has been regarded as friendly to Republicans and was stricken by the Supreme Court of Ohio in March.
“We chose the best of our bad options. Given the factual record before us, two reasons justified our approach. First, no map had won the approval of both the Commission and the Ohio Supreme Court. And second, Map 3 gave the State the most time to fix its own problem. That broke the tie,” Judge Amul Thapar of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote.
COURT TOSSES OUT OHIO LEGISLATIVE MAPS FOR FIFTH TIME AS PRIMARIES LOOM
Map 3, implemented by the Republican-led Ohio Redistricting Commission in February, violated the state’s anti-gerrymandering rules, Ohio’s Supreme Court determined. The high court has rejected legislature maps from the commission on five occasions during this redistricting cycle. The dust-up between the high court and the commission forced the primary date for state House and state Se …

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