(LEX 18) — The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled to dismiss state Democrats' challenge to election maps.
Democrats accused state Republicans of gerrymandering election districts with their latest district maps, making it easier for Republicans to win seats.
The case made it to the high court, where it was dismissed Thursday.
Secretary of State Michael Adams released the following:
“I’m pleased that today, in Graham v. Adams, our nonpartisan Supreme Court overwhelmingly rejected the Kentucky Democratic Party’s reckless, frivolous and hypocritical lawsuit that sought to impose a different set of election rules through the courts, following Democrats’ loss of legislative control that they had previously won for decades under those very rules.”
The Supreme Court found that the new district lines did not break the state constitution's rules.
Kentucky House Democratic Caucus Leaders Derrick Graham, Cherlynn Stevenson, and Rachel Roberts released a joint statement following the decision:
“It has often been said that voters should be the ones who choose their leaders, not the other way around. We still believe in that, which is why we firmly disagree with today’s Kentucky Supreme Court decision. It gives legislative majorities much more authority to protect themselves at the expense of many voters while guaranteeing more political polarization for decades to come. The current congressional and state House maps are textbook examples of extreme partisan gerrymandering, from how they were drawn in secret to how they effectively decided the outcome of most races by the end of the primary. This entire process should have been rejected today; instead, we fear it will now become standard procedure.”
