The Washington Supreme Court will not exercise its authority to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative district maps, leaving in place the work of the bipartisan redistricting commission.
In a unanimous ruling Friday, the court found the commission had substantially met its legal obligations by voting on a map framework just before the midnight Nov. 15 deadline — despite the panel not revealing its maps publicly prior to the vote and acknowledging that final work on completing them continued after the deadline.
The court’s ruling was a nod of deference to the Legislature, whose Democratic and Republican caucus leaders appointed the four voting members of the redistricting commission.
“Redistricting raises largely political questions best addressed in the first instance by commissioners appointed by the legislative caucuses where negotiation and compromise is necessary for agreement,” wrote Chief Justice Steven González, in a five-page court order, adding that “the primary purpose of achieving a timely redistricting plan would be impeded, not advanced, by rejecting the Commission’s completed work.”
The decision lifts some uncertainty over the new boundaries for the state’s 10 congressional districts and 49 legislative districts, which will be in place for the next decade, beginning with the 2022 midterm elections.
But the court order does not shut the door on legal challenges under the federal Voting Rights Act or other laws. Some voting rights activists have said the commission fell short of creating a Central Washington legislative district giving majority Latinos enough clout to elect their favored candidates.
The court order said it “has not evaluated and does not render any opinion on the plan’s compliance with any statutory and constitutional requirements other than the November 15 deadline.”
The court order directed that the redistricting commission complete “any remaining tasks necessary” to finish its work. That will include a final report to the state Legislature, which can make small tweaks to the commission maps with a two-thirds vote of both chambers.
The mapmaking authority had legally fallen to the court after the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission failed to meet its Nov. 15 deadline to agree on maps.
In a chaotic five-hour virtual meeting, during which the commissioners stayed out of public view most of the time, the commission rushed to vote minutes before the deadline on map agreements that were not publicly posted nor publicly debated.
And votes on submitting the plans to the Legislature were taken after the midnight deadline.
The commission acknowledged its failure to finish the entirety of its work by the deadline, but forwarded its belatedly agreed-to map proposals to the court, urging the justices to adopt the maps, citing the months of public testimony and work that had gone into them.
Under state law, the court could have restarted the mapmaking process by ignoring the commission’s work and appointing an expert to draw new maps. It could have taken until April 30 to complete that work.
In a statement on Twitter, the commission praised the court’s decision, saying it would “carefully review the decision and update the public on next steps soon.”
