By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Capitol Times
If the U.S. Supreme Court orders the Arizona Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional map, Republican strategists expect Democratic Congresswomen Ann Kirkpatrick and Kyrsten Sinema’s congressional districts to be the first on the chopping block.
On March 2, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Legislature’s lawsuit against the Independent Redistricting Commission. Republican lawmakers argue that the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution reserves authority over congressional redistricting exclusively for state legislatures. If the Supreme Court agrees and overturns a lower court ruling, the Arizona Legislature will draw the state’s congressional districts for the first time since the early 1980s.
That opportunity would be especially welcome to GOP lawmakers after a commission-based redistricting process that many Republicans felt was hijacked by Democrats. The IRC’s independent chairwoman voted almost exclusively with the commission’s two Democrats and against the two Republicans.
