Decision by High Court Likely to Refuel Debate on California Districting

The state Constitution specifies it as a once-a-decade task--drawing the district boundaries for representatives to the state Legislature and Congress.

But in modern days, trench warfare between political parties over the shape of districts has seemed to stretch out for years.

And now, with Monday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in an Indiana reapportionment case, a new and potentially far-reaching courthouse complication has emerged and seems likely to fuel still more protracted battles in the federal judiciary between California Democrats and Republicans.

By a 7-2 vote, the high court upheld a bitterly partisan and contested legislative redistricting plan. However, the court said other reapportionment plans could be subjected to lawsuits if there is evidence that alleged gerrymandering affected the outcome of more than one election.

In California, leaders of both sides in the long-simmering struggle for control of the state’s 45-member congressional delegation predicted that the Supreme Court ruling will give life to a pending but dormant GOP-sponsored federal district court lawsuit.

And that could mean that California’s reapportionment for the 1980s is still being contested at the threshold of the 1990s.

Although many citizens find the subject of reapportionment a tonic for insomnia, political professionals long have recognized that how citizens are grouped together geographically is critical in determining who represents them.

Basis of GOP Charge

At the heart of the California case is the charge by Republicans that GOP voters have been concentrated in fewer districts to minimize their impact, while Democratic voters have been apportioned out so they dominate too many districts.

Rep. William M. Thomas (R-Bakersfield) is one of the chief GOP critics of the existing congressional plan, which was drawn by the Democratic-controlled Legislature and which resulted in the election of 27 Democrats and 18 Republicans. He has been pressing the fight since 1981.

In an interview Monday, he expressed satisfaction that the high court clearly made room for lawsuits charging gerrymandering of district lines. “I am very pleased that the court understood that people can draw lines to punish a political party,” Thomas said.

Thomas said he consulted with Republican attorneys and declared “absolutely” that GOP members of Congress from California would now proceed with their lawsuit, which had been put in abeyance pending the Supreme Court ruling on the Indiana case.

“The court required a case history over a number of elections, and we think we’ve got that pattern in California,” said Thomas.

What the California Republicans hope to achieve with their lawsuit challenging congressional districts, he said, is a strict set of guidelines to assure that minority parties are fairly represented. He said it was unlikely this would have any effect on the 1988 elections.

Attorney Jonathan H. Steinberg, counsel for the Democratic members of the California delegation to Congress, agreed with Thomas only on one point--that the Supreme Court ruling opens the way for a trial here on the GOP lawsuit. Steinberg said that in every other respect, the high court decision was a victory for California Democrats.

“Obviously, we’d prefer not to have to litigate at all. But I’m very heartened that the court has turned its back on the kinds of analyses the Republicans have been using in challenging the congressional plan,” Steinberg said.

In particular, he said Democrats were pleased that the court rejected any requirement that the partisan split in seats be linked to the partisan breakdown of votes in a particular election.

As for the alleged history of gerrymandering in California, Steinberg said Democrats will defend themselves against the charge by noting that the state reapportionment plan for the 1970s was drawn by a nonpartisan panel of state court masters and the plan for the 1960s was signed into law by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan, a Republican.

In the state Legislature, Senate GOP leader James Nielsen of Rohnert Park noted that no Republican challenges of Legislative districts are pending. But he added, “We now have the option to challenge that gerrymander as well.”