Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd has struck down the Kentucky House and Senate district remapping plans as unconstitutional, saying, “The court […] concludes that the redistricting cure of House Bill 1 is worse than the malapportionment disease that it is legally required to remedy, at least for two years.”
The decision comes with a further order that 2012 elections be held with the district map in place for the last decade, barring some further last minute Senate/House compromise that fits within the bounds of the state constitution. Shepherd identified the unconstitutionality in question as a violation of provisions requiring legislative districts to vary by no more than 5 percent from the ideal size within both the House and Senate plans. And also declared the House plan to be in violation of a state constitutional provision that prohibits splitting more counties than necessary.
Quite a day for judicial decisions, as a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has likewise ruled that California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional.
MORE DETAILS AS THEY COME.
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Chris Ritter <<<< twitter.com/CT_Smash <<<< ctsmash@gmail.com