Kansas Supreme court denies AG’s request to dismiss 3 redistricting map lawsuits.
The Kansas Supreme Court has denied Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s request to dismiss three lawsuits challenging the states newly passed congressional redistricting map. The high court announced the ruling Friday morning. The lawsuits, two of which were filed in Wyandotte County, the other in Douglas County followed the Kansas Legislature’s passage of the “Ad Astra 2″ redistricting map in late January 2022. Democrats claim, “the congressional reapportionment map passed by the Kansas Legislature is impermissibly gerrymandered in violation of the Kansas Constitution.” In the ruling, the court said Schmidt’s petitions for mandamus and quo warranto relief “were not appropriate remedies because the district judges below had not violated any clear legal duty nor were they unlawfully asserting authority by hearing the cases.” Schmidt previously called for the issue to be reviewed by the Kansas Supreme Court — bypassing the state district courts. The Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the redistricting bill that splits the left-leaning Kansas City area into two congressional districts. Democrats have strongly criticized the plan as partisan gerrymandering, and Kelly has said several times that she wants to keep most of the Kansas City area in a single district.
