Opinion ID: 2520871
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Holding in This Redistricting Case

Text: Having held that the Colorado Constitution limits redistricting to once per decade, we now turn to the facts of the redistricting case at hand. Here, the Colorado General Assembly failed to create new congressional districts before the 2002 general elections, despite one regular session and two special sessions. In lieu of a legislative plan, the state district court was obligated to set forth its own carefully considered plan. This court upheld the district court's plan in Beauprez v. Avalos. 42 P.3d 642 (2002). Then, in 2002, seven U.S. Representatives were elected under this new plan. In May of 2003, however, the General Assembly passed a new congressional redistricting plan of its own. Under our holding today, the General Assembly may only create a redistricting plan after the federal census (and the resulting congressional apportionment to the states) and before the ensuing general election. In this case, that would have been between April 1, 2001, when the U.S. Congress notified Colorado that it would gain an additional representative, and March 11, 2002, when the election process began. As we know, the General Assembly failed to act within this time frame. The fact that the courts were forced to create the 2002 redistricting plan in the absence of a valid legislative plan makes no difference. Congressional districts created by a court are equally effective as those created by the General Assembly and disruption of those districts triggers the same policy concerns. Consequently, the General Assembly's 2003 redistricting plan is not permitted by Article V, Section 44, of the Colorado Constitution because it is the second redistricting plan after the 2000 census. Hence, Senate Bill 03-352 is unconstitutional and void.