Opinion ID: 6501056
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Misunderstanding the applicable standard

Text: {¶ 33} To start, it is notable that Senate President Huffman and House Speaker Cupp do not believe that the commission is required to refrain from unduly favoring one political party over the other. At the March 2 meeting, Senate President Huffman explained at length his belief that the commission is not constrained by the standard set forth in Article XIX, Section 1(C)(3)(a) of the Ohio Constitution. This fact alone shows that he, as the main proponent of the March 2 plan, was not operating with the goal of proposing a plan that did not unduly favor the Republican Party. Moreover, the drafters of the March 2 plan—DiRossi and Springhetti— ensured that any changes in partisan favoritism from the original, invalidated plan to the March 2 plan would be minimal when they wrongly viewed Article XIX, Section 3(B)(2)’s requirement to remedy the defects to be unnecessary or even unwarranted—despite our invalidation of the original plan “in its entirety,” id. at ¶ 5, due to its systemic bias and our statement that the plan “defies correction on a simple district-by-district basis,” id. at ¶ 96.