Critics of Kansas’ newly enacted congressional maps are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Kansas Supreme Court decision upholding them.
In a filing last month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, the Campaign Legal Center, Loud Light and Elias Law Group asked the high court to consider whether the 14th Amendment prohibits racial discrimination in redistricting when a minority group is not large enough to make up the majority of a district.
The filing comes months after the Kansas Supreme Court upheld the GOP-drawn maps over arguments that the map should be unconstitutional in part because it split Wyandotte County, the state’s most diverse county, between two congressional districts.
The state court followed tests set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court to evaluate whether districts are racially gerrymandered in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act. They ruled that racial discrimination in redistricting was only unconstitutional if it prevented a majority-minority district.
But the plaintiffs argued in their appeal that the ruling stands in conflict with circuit court rulings on the 14th Amendment and that the constitutional question should not be conflated with the Voting Rights Act.
“If the Kansas Supreme Court’s opinion were to stand it would make it basically impossible to raise an intentional discrimination claim under our equal protection laws,” said Sharon Brett, legal director at the ACLU of Kansas.
It’s unclear if the court would take on the case or when they will make that decision. The U.S. Supreme Court has discretion on which cases they consider and is scheduled to hear a redistricting case out of North Carolina next week.
Before the court can make a decision, Brett said, the Kansas attorney general’s office must respond to the petition.
The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The challenged congressional map drew criticism for splitting Wyandotte County along Interstate 70.
It moved the northern half of the county out of Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, represented by Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids, into Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. Jake LaTurner.
Lawrence, a Democratic stronghold, was moved from the 2nd Congressional District to the sprawling 1st Congressional District in Western and Central Kansas.
Despite a new map less favorable for Democrats, Davids won reelection by a commanding margin last month.
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