Wednesday Senate President Steve Morris said he and his fellow moderate Republicans “were not planning on passing a map that’s detrimental to us.”
The conservatives in the Senate and House appear equally determined to demand redistricting maps that would make it easier to defeat the moderates in November. If these diametrically opposed views don’t change, the Kansas Supreme Court will do the Legislature’s work for it.
That’s not all bad. While the justices won’t draw lines that satisfy the conflicting desires of partisans, their decisions are likely to be rational and defensible.
Declaring impasse and turning the chore over to the court could also set the stage for amending the constitution to establish a permanent nonpartisan redistricting commission charged specifically with drawing political districts after every federal census on the basis of population equality and communities of interest.
Expect that glorious day to be announced by squadrons of pigs flying over the Capitol, trailing bright banners, singing hallelujah. Or however flying pigs celebrate.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
