Ada County asks for deadline extension with SCOTUS to challenge Idaho redistricting plan – Idaho Capital Sun

The Ada County Prosecutor’s Workplace has utilized for and obtained an extension to a deadline to file a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court docket to evaluation the Idaho Supreme Court docket’s ruling upholding the state’s redistricting plan. 

In accordance with court docket information out there via the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s web site, on Could 17 Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts requested a 45-day extension of the Could 30 deadline to file a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court docket to evaluation the Idaho Supreme Court docket’s Jan. 27 unanimous ruling upholding the state’s legislative redistricting plan. 

U.S. Supreme Court docket information present the extension was granted, and Ada County officers have till July 14 to file their petition now. In requesting the deadline extension, Ada County prosecutors wrote that an lawyer on the case needed to withdraw due to medical points that wanted speedy remedy. 

Redistricting passed off in 2021 and was the method of utilizing 2020 census inhabitants knowledge to redraw Idaho’s legislative and congressional districts to make sure political illustration is as equal as attainable. Redistricting takes place all throughout the nation each 10 years, and the method is required by the U.S. Structure and the Idaho Structure. 

Ada County’s problem to Idaho’s legislative redistricting map

Ada County filed one of many 4 challenges in opposition to Idaho’s legislative redistricting plan in November 2021. Within the authentic problem, Ada County Commissioners Rod Beck, Ryan Davidson and Kendra Kenyon argued Idaho’s legislative redistricting map ought to be thrown out as a result of it divided eight of Idaho’s 44 counties when maps submitted by the general public solely divided seven Idaho counties. 

Ada County officers argued of their authentic problem that the legislative redistricting map improperly divided up city, quick rising components of Ada County and mixed it with sparsely populated neighboring rural counties. 

“… It takes a portion of northern Ada County and joins it with Gem County for a district anyway,” Ada County’s authentic problem said. “The Fee then takes a slice of Ada County to the west and joins it with Canyon County for an additional district. Lastly, it takes southern Ada County and joins it with Owyhee County and Canyon County for an additional district.”

In January, Idaho Supreme Court docket justices unanimously upheld Idaho’s redistricting plan and dominated the plan didn’t violate the U.S. Structure or the Idaho Structure. Justices mentioned there are different necessities and concerns for redistricting, together with guaranteeing legislative districts have as near equal inhabitants as attainable — not simply attempting to divide as few counties as attainable.

“Resulting from Idaho’s distinctive geography and the supremacy of federal regulation, there may be unavoidable pressure between the Idaho Structure’s restraint in opposition to splitting counties and the Federal Structure’s Equal Safety Clause,” Idaho Supreme Court docket Justice John Stenger wrote within the opinion. “Navigating this pressure is not any straightforward feat.”

Even when the Ada County Prosecutor’s Workplace strikes ahead with submitting a petition by the brand new July 14 deadline, there isn’t a assure the U.S. Supreme Court docket would take the problem up and evaluation the ruling from the Idaho Supreme Court docket. 

Nonetheless, if the usSupreme Court docket does take the problem up, overturns the Idaho Supreme Court docket’s ruling or throws out Idaho’s redistricting plan, the fallout may very well be messy or unpredictable. The brand new legislative districts created by Idaho’s redistricting plan had been used through the 2022 main election, which passed off Could 17. 

Ada County spokeswoman Elizabeth Duncan couldn’t be reached for remark Tuesday. Ada County Prosecutor’s Workplace spokeswoman Emily Lowe confirmed Ada County requested the extension and now has till July 14 to file a petition.