By Tim Hughes
Michigan AFL-CIO
Legislative Director

The next elected Michigan legislature will draft a plan for reapportionment that will draw the legislative and congressional district lines for the next 10 years.

If the next legislature has the same composition as the current legislature, the reapportionment plans will favor the Republican Party. And if the next Supreme Court that decides legal challenges to these plans has the same composition as the current court, that plan will be sustained.

And if that happens, we all will be in big trouble.

The Republicans will be able to draft a plan that will ensure a sizeable Republican legislative majority for at least a decade and will cut the Democratic 10-6 majority in our state's congressional delegation.

At the state Republican convention last year, Senate Majority leader Dan DeGrow told a district caucus that re-electing a House Republican majority is their top priority. "If they can make it," he said, "we'll redistrict and we'll control the state forever." "That's the war we're in now. And they're going to throw everything at us because they don't want us to redistrict."

If the Republicans win, DeGrow said, "Democrats will never get off the mat and rebound and get back in the game. And they'll be holding some very small conventions."

Reapportionment is accomplished by passing a law. It requires 56 votes in the House, 20 votes in the Senate and the governor's signature. Republicans currently have a 23-15 majority in the Senate, a 58-52 edge in the House and control the governor's office.

Since the Senate and governor are not up for election this fall, Democrats need to gain a majority in the House to even have a place at the table when the reapportionment plan is drafted.

In the '70s, '80s and the early '90s, there was always a Democratic House or governor to keep balance in the reapportionment process. When those bodies deadlocked, the courts took over the responsibility for drafting a plan.

It used to be that state legislative reapportionment was handled by the state Supreme Court and congressional reapportionment was handled by the federal courts. Recent federal court decisions and state legislation make it clear that congressional redistricting questions also can be handled by the state Supreme Court.

Reapportionment-gerrymandering
Even if Democrats win the House, it will be more difficult to draw a fair plan because the rules have been changed. Last year, the principle of one person/one vote was dealt a serious blow with the passage of a package of bills (SB 810, 811 and 814) changing the standards for reapportionment of legislative and congressional districts.

The bills allow the state to use outdated census methods in redrawing district lines, a move that will likely undercount minority populations that vote heavily Democratic. The package also allows districts to be drawn with population differences of up to 10 percent from one district to another.

This allows the "packing" of Democrats and minorities in a smaller number of districts while "spreading out" Republicans in a greater number of districts.

The net result of the package is to maximize the impact of Republican votes to rate more Republican districts. The entire package is of questionable constitutionality and will likely be challenged in court.

Although Michigan Supreme Court justices are elected on a nonpartisan basis, they are nominated at Democratic and Republican Party conventions. Based on their partisan connections, the court is currently controlled by a 5-2 Republican majority.

Three incumbent Republicans are up for election this November: Cliff Taylor, Robert Young and Stephen Markman. Control of the court is literally up in the air. The three Republican incumbents can be expected to vote on reapportionment along partisan lines. In fact, Justice Young was an attorney for the Republican Party during the last reapportionment court case.

All three justices have partisan Republican roots and were originally appointed by Governor Engler. Taylor is married to the governor's legal counsel.

All three are members of the radical right-wing Federalist Society. This organization is an extremist group of individuals who want to roll the clock back on civil rights, worker rights and the First Amendment.

Extremist positions
Among their extremist positions are the overturning of "Brown v Board of Education," the landmark judicial decision that helped end racial segregation, limiting citizen access to federal courts and allowing Congress to undermine judicial independence.

The bottom line is this: Justices Taylor, Young and Markman rule against people and families and in favor of special and corporate interests.

If right-wing ideologues continue to control the state Supreme Court, they will approve legislative and congressional district lines that will elect Republican lawmakers to implement their conservative, right-wing agenda.

Tim Hughes is the legislative director of the Michigan State AFL-CIO.