The Ohio Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Ohio Redistricting Commission to show cause, by filing a response with the court no later than noon Wednesday, why members should not be found in contempt for failure to comply with this court’s order to produce Ohio House and Senate maps.
The Ohio Redistricting Commission had two previous maps rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court. The court gave the panel until the end of Thursday to produce new maps.
The Ohio Redistricting Commission did not submit finalized Ohio House and Senate maps before its court-imposed deadline, after the group of five Republicans and two Democrats voted 5-2 along party lines to not accept maps introduced by its Democrat members.
While the two Democrats on the panel introduced maps they claimed were constitutional, State Senate President Matt Huffman claimed the boundaries for Ohio’s 99 House and 33 Senate districts were not drawn constitutionally.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the order given by the Ohio Supreme Court made it impossible for the commission to draw constitutional maps.
“Whether we like the court order or don’t like court order, we have obligation to try to follow it and we also have obligation to produce a map,” said DeWine. “We did not do that and I think we should have produced a map. It might not have been everything that the court said but I think we could’ve got closer to what the court was ordering us to do.”
