XDA

The 2000 census showed what almost all Denverites already knew, the population of the state had grown a lot and most of the new people were in cars right in front of us going slow. But we also received a new Representative to the U S House of Representatives. Whom would that representative represent? The State Legislature, barely controlled by Republicans at the time, failed to draw up a new district. It fell to a judge to do it, specifically Denver District Court Judge John Coughlin (now retired and at JAG). I began my career, such as it is, in front of John Coughlin trying to keep bonds high for prisoners way before I was a lawyer or had even passed the bar. Coughlin did a bang up job of drawing a fair district about half Democrats and half Republicans.

That, of course, is the last thing the Republicans wanted and after they gained a little strength in the next election, in 2003 they drew a better redistricting map. Lawsuits sprouted like mushrooms after heavy rains. Which plan to use? Judge drawn or Legislature drawn? But our Supreme Court held that the Coughlin's map was the one to use because you only get one bite at the apple. Yea, we Republicans said, one bite by the legislature. But the Supremes had spoken and all the federal lawsuits one by one bit the dust. But the guys behind one which was earlier dismissed won a reprieve yesterday [today] when the United States Supreme Court, by a vote of 8-1, in Keith Lance v. Gigi Dennis, 05-555, reversed the dismissal of the last suit and sent it back to the local federal court for a decision on the merits.

This suit is a somewhat weak argument that the Judge-drawn redistricting interferes with a first amendment right (to Petition the Lord with Prayer or something like that) somehow. I'm not holding my breath for the Legislature's redrawn map to be used next election.