In May 2013, the Supreme Court accepted LRC’s second redistricting proposal which will go into effect in the 2014 election cycle. The Court’s decision will keep 1.9 million residents from being split into unnecessarily subdivided legislative districts as proposed in the LRC’s original map.

Although the Court favored the LRC’s revised plan over petitioner Amanda Holt’s revised plan, in making its ruling the Court upheld the right of citizens to submit alternative plans and appeal future LRC proposals. Additionally, the Court protected consideration of citizen submissions by ruling that future LRC plans will not simply be deferred to in determining appropriate redistricting. Finally the Court’s decision noted that LRC’s responsibility to follow the constitutional obligation to protect the integrity of legislative districts outweighs the Commission’s need to maintain political balance or “continuity of representation” in devising new maps.

Click here to read the Supreme Court’s final redistricting opinion.