In 2000, Arizona voters adopted an initiative aimed at ending the practice of gerrymandering and improving voter and candidate participation in elections. The electorate voted to remove redistricting authority from the Legislature and vest that authority with an independent commission. The Legislature challenged the redistricting map the Commission adopted for 2012. In upholding the use of an independent commission to draw electoral maps, the United States Supreme Court held the Arizona Legislature, having lost authority to draw congressional districts, has standing to contest the constitutionality of the proposition, but that lawmaking power in Arizona includes the initiative process. (Ariz. State Legis. v. Ariz. Indep. Redistricting Comm’n (U.S. Sup. Ct.; June 29, 2015) ___U.S.___ [135 S.Ct. 2652, 192 L.Ed.2d 704].)Gerrymandering (continued) –
In 2000, Arizona voters adopted an initiative aimed at ending the practice of gerrymandering and improving voter and candidate participation in elections. The electorate voted to remove redistricting authority from the Legislature and vest that authority with an independent commission. The Legislature challenged the redistricting map the Commission adopted for 2012. In upholding the use of an independent commission to draw electoral maps, the United States Supreme Court held the Arizona Legislature, having lost authority to draw congressional districts, has standing to contest the constitutionality of the proposition, but that lawmaking power in Arizona includes the initiative process. (Ariz. State Legis. v. Ariz. Indep. Redistricting Comm’n (U.S. Sup. Ct.; June 29, 2015) ___U.S.___ [135 S.Ct. 2652, 192 L.Ed.2d 704].)