TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas judge struck down the state's new Republican-drawn congressional maps on Monday as an unconstitutional gerrymander, but conservative legislators aren't ready to talk about making changes to the maps.
GOP leaders instead turned their focus to the next legal showdown, when the Attorney General's Office appeals to the Kansas Supreme Court — where five of the seven justices were appointed by Democratic governors.
"I trust the courts to actually take a good look at it like they should," said Rep. Chris Croft, an Overland Park Republican who chairs the House Redistricting Committee. "I don't think we've gotten a fair shake all the time."
The Supreme Court's ultimate decision will be one of its most momentous in recent years because the court may interpret the state constitution to prohibit political and racial gerrymandering. The court would then have to rule on whether these maps did that. It would be a critical decision coming as federal courts have stopped ruling against political gerrymandering.
The Supreme Court has shown a willingness to make significant rulings on the state constitution in recent years. In 2019, the court found that the state constitution includes the right to an abortion — a hugely consequential decision given the erosion of abortion rights at the federal level. Kansas voters will decide in August whether to overturn the decision.
A similarly bold decision on gerrymandering could potentially spur a backlash among Republican lawmakers leading to an effort to constrain the court's power over redistricting.
But for now, GOP lawmakers are focused on winning over — not fighting — the Supreme Court.
"It's part of the process," Croft said. "I trust the attorney general to know what needs to be done."
Croft said he hadn't had any discussions with lawmakers about alternative redistricting maps.
Wyandotte County Judge Bill Klapper found that the Legislature had intentionally diluted minority votes in a partisan and political gerrymander that violated the Kansas Constitution. The new map split Wyandotte County and moved part of it out of the 3rd District, which it shared with Johnson County. It was the first time a state court judge had ruled against a congressional map in Kansas history.
He ordered the Legislature to redraw the map and prohibited officials from conducting elections under the unconstitutional map. But the decision announced Monday, following a four-day trial earlier this month, is guaranteed to be appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Senate and House GOP leadership criticized Klapper's ruling but said it was not a surprise coming from a "left-wing" judge elected in Wyandotte County. Klapper was elected as a Democrat.
"The ruling simply means we are on to the next step, which is an appeal by the Attorney General," Senate President Ty Masterson, Vice President Rick Wilborn and Majority Leader Larry Alley, all Republicans, said in a statement.
Speaker Ron Ryckman, Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch and Majority Leader Dan Hawkins — all Republicans — issued a similar statement saying they looked forward to an appeal of "this erroneous decision."
Democratic lawmakers and voting rights groups, however, hailed the decision as a victory.
Sharon Brett, legal director for the ACLU of Kansas, said in a statement that Klapper "saw this map for what it was — a deliberate attempt to silence the voices of Democratic and minority Kansans."
Rep. Tom Burroughs, a Kansas City Democrat, said he agreed with the decision and hoped it could lead to a map that kept the core of the Kansas City metropolitan area intact.
Burroughs, however, was not optimistic that Republican lawmakers would work in good faith with Democrats if the map is struck down by the Supreme Court.
"If you're not going to listen to the majority of the population of the residents that you represent, I can't see them listening to the courts," Burroughs said.
But Sen. Ethan Corson, a Fairway Democrat, said the tight timeline lawmakers would be under to pass maps in time for the June 1 filing deadline could remove politics from the process.
"If the court strikes them they will do so with fairly specific guidance," Corson said. "We're not really going to have time to have a bunch of political posturing. We're going to need to, in a short order, work together collaboratively to come up with a map that addresses the court's concerns."
