On February 16, an Oklahoma State Supreme Court referee heard oral arguments in Duffe v State Question 748, case no. 109127. This lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a new Oklahoma law that the voters passed last year. It sets up a Redistricting Commission, which draws the legislative district boundaries if the legislature fails to act. It says that all the members must be Democrats or Republicans. The law specifies those two parties by name. See this article. The plaintiff, Clark Duffe, is actually a Libertarian, and was an independent candidate for Congress last year because the Libertarian Party wasn’t on the ballot.
Like the ‘de facto’ non Democans and non Republicrats in California ??????????
Pingback: Can redistricting commissions be composed only of Dems and Reps?: Oklahoma lawsuit | Independent Political Report
Pingback: Can redistricting commissions be composed only of Dems and Reps?: Oklahoma lawsuit | Daily Libertarian
Redistricting is self-dealing entrenchment. It’s like two gangs of rustlers dividing up cattle in the Old West.
It appears to me the Republicans are being magnanimous to the extreme in a state like Oklahoma. Why have Democrats on the commission? This is Oklahoma after all.
Actually, the Commission (which has existed for a long time, but with different rules on who gets to be on the Commission) never does anything. The Oklahoma legislature always manages to pass its own redistricting bill. So this fight is largely symbolic.