Merriam-Webster defines gerrymandering as “to divide or arrange (an area) into political units to give special advantages to one group.” Republicans define gerrymandering as the only way they’re going to win elections, particularly after states that went red in 2016 – Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania – then flipped and voted for President Joe Biden in 2020.
🚨BREAKING: Ohio Supreme Court STRIKES DOWN Republican's revised legislative maps for violating state constitution. Victory for Ohio voters and fair maps.@DemRedistrict @EliasLawGroup https://t.co/taWNqV2LZ4
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) February 7, 2022
On Monday, attorney and voting rights hero Marc Elias announced another victory on Twitter after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled on a gerrymandered congressional map challenged in court by Democracy Docket, the organization with whom Elias works. According to the legal documents post by Elias and the organization:
‘The Supreme Court of Ohio struck down the maps, holding that they were partisan gerrymanders that violated the Ohio Constitution. The court ordered the Commission to adopt new plans that comply with the constitution within 10 days of the ruling.’
The news comes on the heels of a disappointment after Alabama’s voting maps, which had been struck down in the Alabama Supreme Court, were approved by the Supreme Court of the United States along a 5-4 vote, with all three of the justices appointed by Trump as well as the two most conservative members of the court, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, allowing the map to move forward.
In Ohio, however, the case is not a federal one and the ruling will therefore stand. Elias and his group can chalk up this victory as a permanent win.
Twitter was full of questions about the Alabama ruling while praising Elias for the Ohio case. Read some of their comments below:
