Ohio Supreme Court Dismisses Redistricting Cases

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a pair of legal challenges to the state’s congressional map, meaning the map — already declared unconstitutional — will be used for the 2024 election.

The two lawsuits in question were Neiman v. LaRose and League of Women Voters of Ohio v. LaRose, the LaRose in question being Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

Earlier this week, the Democrats and voting rights advocates behind the lawsuits asked to have their cases dismissed on the grounds that even if they prevailed, the process to replace the current map would leave Ohio voters in limbo for several more months as a new map was drawn.

“Given that the [current map, drawn in 2022] is at least a partial remedy, and given the substantial costs and uncertainty that further litigation would entail, petitioners have decided to no longer pursue their challenge,” they wrote in their petition. 

“They strongly believe this is the best result under the circumstances for the people of Ohio who deserve certainty about the congressional map that they will be voting under in this cycle, at the very least,” the filing said.

Last year, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision that the current map was unconstitutional because it was drawn to favor Republican candidates over Democrats.

But then-Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor is now out, and her replacement, Sharon Kennedy, has said she would have approved the map as constitutional. She and two other Republican justices dissented from the decisions striking down map after map in 2022.

The U.S. Supreme Court vacated the earlier ruling that the district map was unconstitutional and directed the Ohio court to take a second look at the case in light of the high court’s recent ruling in a North Carolina redistricting case.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled that state courts can curtail the actions of their legislatures when it comes to federal redistricting and elections, rejecting arguments by North Carolina Republicans that could have dramatically altered races for federal office.

The justices by a 6-3 vote upheld a decision by North Carolina’s top court that struck down a congressional districting plan as excessively partisan under state law.

Though the dismissal of the lawsuits would appear a win for the state’s Republicans, Ohio’s congressional district map must be redrawn after 2024 anyway, because the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission approved the current map without any Democratic buy-in.

Under Ohio law, a map that the commission passes with bipartisan support is good for 10 years; those that do not receive bipartisan support are only good for four years.

“The court took this action at the request of the plaintiffs, who asked to dismiss these cases,” LaRose said in a written statement.

“It’s oddly convenient that these groups now suddenly consider the map to be constitutional,” he said. “The reality here is that allies of one political party tried to game the system by getting an outcome they wanted from the previous hyper-partisan court majority. 

“Now that the integrity of the Ohio Supreme Court has been restored, the plaintiffs are effectively admitting their lawsuits are without merit and unlikely to succeed,” LaRose continued. “They’ve wasted taxpayer dollars, confused Ohio voters and abused Ohio’s election officials by forcing a bifurcated primary election last year. 

“Now they’re trying to game the outcome again by withdrawing their frivolous lawsuits in hopes of keeping a map they’ve for months decried as unconstitutional. The hypocrisy of these folks knows no end,” he said.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue