The state’s highest court gave its blessing this morning to the Senate GOP’s move to create a 63rd Senate Seat.
Our Glenn Blain reports:
The Court of Appeals, in a unanimous ruling, rejected a legal challenge brought by Senate Democrats claiming the Republican majority had violated the state Constitution by increasing the size of the Senate by one seat.
“It is not our task to address the wisdom of the methods employed by the Legislature in accomplishing their constitutional mandate,” the court ruled, upholding a lower court ruling.
The justices further said that “petitioners have not met their burden of demonstrating” that the methods used by the Senate GOP violated the Constitution.
“While we are disappointed with today’s decision, we are hopeful that remaining legal challenges will overturn the unfair State Senate maps,” said Senate Democratic spokesman Mike Murphy, referring to ongoing federal court challenges of the Legislature’s redistricting plan. “In any event, Senate Democrats remain confident that even if the existing gerrymandered maps are ultimately upheld, Democrats will gain seats and retake the majority in the state Senate this November.”