WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the power of independent commissions used by 13 states to draw congressional districts, in a ruling that could spur efforts in other states to reduce partisan influence in the creation of electoral districts.
The justices voted 5-4 to reject a constitutional challenge from Arizona’s Republican lawmakers to the commission that voters created in 2000. Among other states affected is California, which uses an independent commission to draw electoral boundaries for its largest-in-the-nation congressional delegation.
The Arizona case stemmed from voters’ action in 2000. The legislature’s Republican leaders filed their lawsuit after the commission’s U.S. House map in 2012 produced four safe districts for Republicans, two for Democrats and made the other three seats competitive. Democrats won all three in 2012, but the Republicans recaptured one last year. States are required to redraw maps for congressional and state legislative districts to account for population changes after the once-a-decade census.
