COLUMBUS, Ohio — Today, the ACLU of Ohio, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Covington & Burling LLP filed a motion with the Ohio Supreme Court, requesting that the Ohio Redistricting Commission explain their failure to comply with the May 25 order, requiring new legislative maps be drawn by June 3. This motion was filed on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, the Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute, and a number of individual Ohio voters.
“Contrary to all laws, rules, and norms, the Commission not only defied the order; it ignored the Court, and filed nothing at all. The Commission has devolved from claiming to comply with this Court’s orders to flatly refusing to even provide the Court with the decency of a response. Such conduct is inexcusable,” added Freda Levenson, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio.
Per the motion, “It is within the inherent authority of this Court to set deadlines to effectuate compliance with its orders. It is fundamental to the rule of law that ‘courts have inherent authority that has existed since the very beginning of the common law – to compel obedience of their lawfully issued orders.’”
“The Redistricting Commission’s willful defiance of the Ohio Supreme Court, the Ohio Constitution, and Ohio voters is strategic, intentional, and deceitful. The entire process has been a monumental embarrassment,” noted Andre Washington, president of the Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute.
The ACLU of Ohio asks the Court to order the Redistricting Commission to file an explanation, with evidence, for their noncompliance with the May 25 order.
Read the motion below.
