The panel wrote that it was joining “the growing chorus of federal courts” that have held that drawing districts to unfairly favor the party in power is unconstitutional. The judges said the maps violated Democratic voters’ constitutional rights.
But the impact of the ruling ultimately will turn on an opinion by the Supreme Court, which is weighing decisions in two other partisan gerrymander cases involving congressional districts in North Carolina and Maryland. The high court’s decision in those cases, expected by the end of June, could reinforce the Michigan ruling, force alterations to it, or even overrule it entirely.
The 146-page Michigan opinion, joined by two judges named to the bench by President Bill Clinton and one named by President George H.W. Bush, made a pointed and passionate argument to the justices for action to outlaw at least some partisan gerrymanders.
During arguments in the Supreme Court cases last month, some justices questioned whether it was possible to draw a bright line between an acceptable political map and one that is too partisan, and others wondered aloud whether a growing public outcry against partisan maps might solve the problem without judicial intervention.
But in the Michigan ruling, the three judges said emphatically that inaction was not an option.
“Federal courts must not abdicate their responsibility to protect American voters from this unconstitutional and pernicious practice that undermines our democracy,” they wrote, adding that failing to protect voters’ rights “will only increase the citizenry’s growing disenchantment with, and disillusionment in, our democracy.”
In what seemed to be a direct message to the Supreme Court, they said that “judges — and justices — must act in accordance with their obligation to vindicate the constitutional rights of those harmed by partisan gerrymandering.”
Michigan is frequently a battleground state in statewide and national elections, divided about evenly between the two major parties.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.