South Dakota: Legislature will not change districting plan to comply with court order
The Argus Leader reports: Legislative leaders decided Monday they'll continue to play the hand they dealt themselves in a 4-year-old redistricting plan that a federal judge says violates Lakota voting rights.
The Legislative Research Council's executive board voted unanimously to reaffirm its 2001 action in the face of U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier's ruling.
Schreier said the plan packs Lakota voters into District 27 and dilutes the minority population's voting strength in neighboring District 26.
The two districts are part of an area that includes the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian reservations in southwestern South Dakota. Schreier gave the Legislature until July 29 to submit a plan that responded to her finding of a voting-rights violation.
Lawmakers instead will offer a resolution adopted Monday that affirms their earlier action. Then they'll wait for Schreier's final order in the case and almost certainly will appeal her decision to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. -- Argus Leader - News