Democrats renewed their gerrymandering fight Friday with a pair of lawsuits over election maps that have helped Republicans maintain big margins in the state Assembly. An expanded group of Democratic voters filed a new version of their long-running lawsuit on Friday, three months after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to bring an earlier version of their suit. Just hours later, the campaign operation for the Democratic members of the Assembly filed a separate suit. The group asked to consolidate its case with the other one. The new filings, submitted to a three-judge court in Madison, were aimed at addressing legal flaws identified by the high court and giving the Democrats a chance to challenge the maps for all 99 of the state’s Assembly seats.
The cases likely will be considered for months and are not expected to have any effect on the Nov. 6 election. But if the lawsuits go Democrats’ way, they could result in changes for the 2020 election.
The legal fight is all but certain to eventually return to the Supreme Court at a time when the Senate is considering confirming Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Full Article: Democrats revive gerrymandering lawsuit to block election maps in 2020.