Ohio court dismisses lawsuit over state's election maps, set to keep same lines in 2024

Ohio's top court dismissed several challenges to the state's election maps Thursday, leaving them in place for the 2024 election.

The Ohio Supreme Court dismissed two cases Thursday regarding lawsuits to the state's maps. 

The first case centered on redistricting maps that were crafted after the 2020 Census. The first set of maps was tossed by the state's high court, requiring new maps to be created again. A second map was created by the Ohio Redistricting Commission, but the Ohio Supreme Court struck the lines down again given that they largely mirrored the first set of maps.

Republicans in the Buckeye State asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the Ohio Supreme Court's decision invalidating the state's maps, but the Supreme Court directed the case back to the state's high court where it was dismissed. 

Petitioners to the case earlier this week, however, had asked for the case to be withdrawn, saying in a court filing that "given that the March 2 Plan is at least a partial remedy, and given the substantial costs and uncertainty that further litigation would entail, Petitioners have decided to no longer pursue their challenge to the March 2 Plan."

"They strongly believe this is the best result under the circumstances for the people of Ohio who deserve certainty about the congressional map that they will be voting under in this cycle, at the very least," the filing adds. 

A separate lawsuit argued that the second set of maps proposed by the Ohio Redistricting Commission violated the state's constitution, regarding two of its congressional districts – the 1st and 15th Districts for creating lines that would favor Republicans and breaking up counties. Petitioners had asked for new maps to be crafted for the 2024 election, but the case was also dismissed. 

The dismissal came shortly after petitioners had also requested dismissing the case, saying in part in a legal filing, "litigation regarding redistricting plans is often a protracted process, and in this case has already required two rounds of decisions by this Court." 

The dismissals will allow those lines to be kept in place for the next election cycle. Republicans are on defense as they look to keep their narrow House majority, and Democrats only need to net 5 seats to flip it.

But petitioners have alluded that the maps will need to be redrawn again soon, saying in part the latest maps are "'effective' only through the 2024 election."

Dave Wasserman, House editor for Cook Political Report, suggested in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the ruling actually bodes well for Democrats.

"This is actually a win for Democrats, as Republicans won’t get a chance to more aggressively re-gerrymander Ohio’s lines before 2024," he wrote.