Court upholds state's approach to redistricting

Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland Jul 1, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Court upholds state's approach to redistricting</h1>
                <h2><p>A U.S. Supreme Court decision today means Washington and about a dozen other states can continue to use independent commissions to draw up the districts for their legislatures and their congressional seats. The Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature contended that the state's commission infringed on its powers, a view</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/joe-copeland-crosscut-com/">Joe Copeland</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>A U.S. Supreme Court decision today means Washington and about a dozen other states can continue to use independent commissions to draw up the districts for their legislatures and their congressional seats. The Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature contended that the state's commission infringed on its powers, a view the justices rejected 5-to-4. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson wrote a brief <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-supreme-court-congressional-districts-gerrymander-20150629-story.html?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">defending the practice that attorneys general</a> in most of the other commission states supported. The <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-supreme-court-congressional-districts-gerrymander-20150629-story.html?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Los Angeles Times notes</a> that the four most conservative justices (Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito) disagreed with the ruling.</p>
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A U.S. Supreme Court decision today means Washington and about a dozen other states can continue to use independent commissions to draw up the districts for their legislatures and their congressional seats. The Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature contended that the state's commission infringed on its powers, a view the justices rejected 5-to-4. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson wrote a brief defending the practice that attorneys general in most of the other commission states supported. The Los Angeles Times notes that the four most conservative justices (Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito) disagreed with the ruling.

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By Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland is the former senior editor&nbsp;for Crosscut, where he has been an editor since 2010. Before that, he was an editorial writer and columnist for the Seattle P-I and editorial page edi