WA Redistricting: Washington's Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the state's bipartisan redistricting commission had "substantially complied" with state law requiring it to transmit new maps to the legislature by the legal deadline of midnight on Nov. 15, despite the fact that the panel only voted to do so after the clock had struck midnight.
That final vote took place after a chaotic meeting during which commissioners appeared to violate state transparency laws by huddling in private, then sought to approve maps that had never been shared with the public—or even with the entire panel, since one member, Democrat Brady Walkinshaw, later said he hadn't seen the plans before they were shipped.
The commission blamed delays in receiving census data and unspecified "technical challenges" for its failure, though the Seattle Times reported that "[s]ome in and around the commission" blamed Walkinshaw for dragging out the process in a deliberate effort to punt the redistricting process to the high court. Nevertheless, the day after the blown deadline, the panel at last publicized its maps and begged the Supreme Court—on Twitter, no less—to consider them.
The justices did the commissioners one better by saying they had in fact fulfilled their duties, thereby declining to have the court assume responsibility for redistricting. As a result, the maps will now go before state lawmakers, who can make minor modifications (amounting to no more than 2% of the population of any district) on a two-thirds vote. The new districts will automatically become law 30 days after the start of the legislature's next session.
Ultimately, for all this sturm und drang, the maps change very little. Almost every congressional district retains its current presidential performance, according to Dave's Redistricting App, including the two most competitive seats, Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier's 8th and Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler's 3rd. The legislative map also retains the status quo, with Joe Biden winning 33 districts to 16 for Donald Trump; the median district also supported Biden by a margin very close to his statewide performance. (Washington uses the same map for both chambers, with each district electing one senator and two representatives.)
Friday's ruling may not be the last word, though. The Supreme Court was careful to note that it was only addressing the question of whether the commission had met its legal deadline and would not "not render any opinion on the plan's compliance with any statutory and constitutional requirements" aside from that. There's a possibility of further litigation, in fact, because of concerns about whether commissioners were required to draw a legislative district in the Yakima Valley where Latino voters could elect their preferred candidate.