Supreme Court temporarily blocks rulings requiring new voting maps for Ohio and Michigan

Activists at the Supreme Court opposed to partisan gerrymandering hold up representations of congressional districts from North Carolina, left, and Maryland, right, as justices hear arguments about the practice of political parties manipulating the bounda - Copyright Carolyn Kaster AP file

By Dareh Gregorian with NBC News Politics

Published on 24/05/2019 - 21:22

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Lower courts had invalidated the GOP-friendly maps as partisan gerrymanders and ordered them redrawn before the 2020 election.

The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked lower court rulings that invalidated, as partisan gerrymanders, Ohio's map for congressional districts and Michigan's maps for congressional and state legislative districts.

The high court's orders put on hold efforts in both states to redraw their electoral maps ahead of the 2020 elections, a remedy ordered by the lower courts.

In the Ohio case, a three-judge panel ruled unanimously earlier this month that the district map draw up by the Republican-controlled legislature unconstitutionally discriminated against Democrats. "We are convinced by the evidence that this partisan gerrymander was intentional," the ruling said.

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US politics