Democrats And Republicans Agree, Redistricting In Ohio Is A Constitutional Crisis

the battle over congressional redistricting is getting pretty messy in ohio where the state supreme court chief justice says governor mike dewine and other top republicans could be held in contempt for missing a major deadline now this could be only the beginning for the governor's problems which is why we have nbc news correspondent heidi frazbella on the ground from washington to really help unpack all of this for us especially when it comes to this redistricting conflict as well as possible conflict of interest for the governor heidi what exactly happens if this committee does not produce an acceptable district map yeah morgan the future of elections and democracy itself really does lie in state legislatures and courts and that's why what's happening in ohio is concerning according to independent judicial experts i've talked to the ohio supreme court is now threatening to hold its own governor in contempt over gerrymandered electoral maps and the governor's son is on the ohio supreme court ruling in favor of those on constitutional maps and still refusing to recuse himself in ohio a brewing constitutional crisis over redistricting this is a direct assault on our democracy and ohio voters a gop-led commission has failed to meet a deadline ordered by the ohio supreme court to fix state maps the court deemed unconstitutionally gerrymandered in favor of republicans it would appear presently that this registration commission is in an impasse for voters that means there are currently no districts for 99 state house and 33 state senate seats and no road map for what happens next the secretary of state issuing a warning as the clock ticks toward the may third elections with much to be done in preparation we are dangerously close to possibly violating federal law the democratic minority members on the panel say republicans are blocking fair maps and are trying to run out the clock republicans say it's impossible to meet the court's standards for fair maps it's not surprising and we suspected all along that this would be the strategy that they would use the court had ruled the maps must reflect statewide voting preferences roughly 54 percent republican representation and 46 percent for democrats now the court must decide what to do about a commission in open defiance of their order among the members of the ohio redistricting commission republican governor mike dewine we have an obligation to follow the court order whether we like it or not whether we agree with it or not and among the justices who'll decide the consequences for the failure to act governor dewine's son ohio supreme court justice pat dewine who was previously ruled to uphold maps approved by his father three times a dynamic some independent judicial experts say should require a recusal there's no way that the son of the governor can sit in a case that will determine the legitimacy of the redistricting where the governor has an interest in maximizing republican victories in the congressional districts in washington how are you governor dewine wasn't interested in talking about the alleged conflict of interest do you think that it's appropriate for our son to be ruling on cases i never discussed his decision in courts but according to never talked with him you haven't talked i have no comment because i've made it very very clear i'm not talking never talk about what he does in court i never talk about his decisions so i'm not going to talk about this decision in a statement justice path dewine asserted that as one of seven members on the commission his father has quote considerably less influence over the commission than he would have over a department of state government and added most importantly he has no personal interest in the litigation a decision by the court one way or another will not provide any personal benefit to him we have an obligation to produce a map and morgan to answer your question the state's really in uncharted waters now late on friday night the court warned governor dewine and the other members of the commission to explain why they shouldn't be held in contempt for failing to produce a map and they now have wednesday at noon to respond meantime there's just a flurry of gop-led lawsuits looking to a federal court to intervene and just basically install the very same maps that the ohio supreme court deemed gerrymandered morgan heidi it's great to see you asking those tough questions and trying to get a straight answer heidi prizevela for us there thank you thanks for watching our youtube channel follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the nbc news app you

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Id: 7nx3XabYmRA

Length: 5min 4sec (304 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 21 2022