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The U.S. Supreme Court's decision regarding a North Carolina congressional redistricting case will have repercussions in Ohio, but we still may end up with the same map the state Supreme Court ruled last year was unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
That's because just like in North Carolina, the judicial philosophy of the new state Supreme Court in Ohio has changed to align with Republican legislators.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Tuesday in Moore v. Harper against North Carolina Republicans who used what is called the "independent state legislative theory." The theory gives state Legislatures sole authority over federal redistricting and doesn't permit state courts to intervene. There are some limits on what state courts can do in redistricting cases, the justices ruled in their decision.
But Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the decision that "state courts retain the authority to apply state constitutional restraints when legislatures act under the power conferred upon them by the Election Clause."
So how does this impact Ohio?
Ohio Republicans filed a very similar case with the U.S. Supreme Court in October with hope that they would not have to redraw the congressional map used in the 2022 election. The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to reject the case for review.
The map of 15 congressional districts gave Republicans 10 safe seats, Democrats two safe seats with three tossup seats that slightly lean Democratic. Republicans ended up winning 10 seats to 5 for Democrats. That Democrats won all the three competitive seats was somewhat surprising.
The state Supreme Court ruled last August -- for the second time -- that the Republican-drawn congressional map was illegal because it unfairly favored Republicans. However, because the decision came after the May 2022 primary, the map was kept in place for that year's election with the court ordering a new map for the 2024 election.
Also, Republican legislative leaders ignored the state court's order to create a new map and instead appealed the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it still sits.
With the North Carolina decision, Ohio Republicans are going to have to approve a new map, which could favor the GOP even more, or ask the state Supreme Court to reconsider its last decision on the constitutionality of the map that was used.
Because of a change in the makeup of the state Supreme Court, Republicans are likely to get a more favorable decision from the justices. That's what happened in North Carolina.
Republican Maureen O'Connor, who was Ohio chief justice, is no longer on the court. She was forced to retire as a result of the state's age limit on judges. O'Connor sided with the three Democrats on not just the two congressional redistricting cases but with four state legislative redistricting cases.
Democrats failed to win any of the three seats on the November ballot and after Republican Sharon Kennedy was elected chief justice, Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Republican Joe Deters to succeed her.
Kennedy -- along with two other Republican justices, Pat Fischer and Pat DeWine, the latter is the son of the governor -- had voted in the minority on the two congressional redistricting cases as well as the four state legislative cases.
With Deters on the court and O'Connor gone, the minority on the redistricting issue has become the majority so almost any map proposed by Republicans will get the approval of the Supreme Court.
Republicans may just ask for reconsideration of the existing map.
It's also possible the maps already ruled as being gerrymandered will be drawn to make it easier for Republicans to gain some or all of the tossup seats from 2022 and the Supreme Court will accept that.
Even though North Carolina Republicans lost their case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and it has a significant impact on other states, the case was moot in North Carolina.
The North Carolina Supreme Court, with a new Republican majority, in April threw out the previous court's ruling against a gerrymandered congressional map. That will make it much easier for Republicans, who dominate the legislature in that state, to redraw congressional lines for next year's election.
In last year's election, Republicans and Democrats each won seven seats in North Carolina with the latter picking up two seats.