Apparently Beshear and the Kentucky Democrats are suing. Don't really get the point of these shenanigans. The Democrats have no chance of winning the state legislature or KY-06 in the foreseeable future, so all that really matters is KY-03. Disaster averted I guess, and we have nothing to lose from a court drawn map, but still.
This is arguably an ideal example of how activist groups have taken control of redistricting litigation from the national groups and federal bodies. Locals and their backers don't exactly care if the outcomes won't dramatically now favor the Democrats, they want fair maps.
The case concerns the State House and Congressional plans, referred
to as HB2 and SB3 by the parties if you are reading the court documents. The Senate Plan is not sued, despite being IMO the most egregious of the maps, perhaps because of how the plaintiffs structure their arguments. There are two lines of attack. There first is similar to other cases in State Courts and revolves around Free and Fair Elections. The second though stems from guidelines in § 33 of the Constitution, and concerns county splits and district nesting.
The desired sum of the two arguments seems to be a ruling enforcing minimal-split nesting (like TX SH, WV congress) and within those groups creating maps that respect community boundaries and enable political competitiveness. The former would still be relevant to Congress: it would clear up the ambiguity that spanned the 2022 discussion thread and de facto guarantee KY-03 remains permanently nested in Jefferson County.
The trial court heard the case last year. It found that the maps in question were indisputably and proven partisan gerrymanders. It however did not believe the court had the authority under the KY Constitution to strike them down and order remaps. The Kentucky Supreme Court then elevated the appeal from the Courts of Appeals on the plaintiffs request.
Given official nonpartisanship, I'm personally uncertain if liberals still have the majority in the Supreme Court. There certainly are more than what you would expect with district-based elections to the body.
