News Item

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Minnesota Special Redistricting Panel to release plans on February 15

Posted: Monday, February 14, 2022

As set forth by Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie S. Gildea in a June 30, 2021 order, the Minnesota Special Redistricting Panel, “…shall order implementation of judicially determined redistricting plans for state legislative and congressional seats that satisfy the constitutional and statutory requirements in the event that the Legislature and Governor have not done so in a timely manner.”    The statutory deadline for the Legislature’s adoption of congressional and legislative redistricting plans is Tuesday, February 15, 2022.  If no legislative plans have been enacted, the Panel intends to release its redistricting plans at 12 p.m. that day.  At that time, the Panel will post its plans on the Minnesota Judicial Branch public website, on the “Special Redistricting Panel” page, located at www.mncourts.gov/2021RedistrictingPanel.    On the website, the public will be able to retrieve in PDF format:      a.      The Panel’s orders regarding redistricting;      b.      Statewide and Twin Cities area congressional district maps;      c.      Statewide and Twin Cities area legislative district maps;      d.      Selected maps of metro areas around Minnesota where it is impossible to discern the legislative districts from the statewide perspective; and      e.      Various Maptitude reports.   The electronic redistricting plans will also be available in the form of three separate block equivalency files, one each for the congressional districts, the state senate districts, and the state house districts.   In order to make the Panel’s redistricting plans available to members of the public who may not have access to the Internet, a direct link to the plans will be available on Self-Represented Litigant computer terminals in each courthouse location no later than February 21, 2022.    The Special Redistricting Panel appointed by Chief Justice Lorie S. Gildea was ordered to hear and decide all matters in Wattson, et al, Sachs, et al v. Simon, et al (A21-0243, A21-0546) regarding the validity of state legislative and congressional districts based on the 2020 Census.  The Panel members are Hon. Louise D. Bjorkman, presiding judge; Hon. Diane B. Bratvold; Hon. Jay D. Carlson; Hon. Juanita C. Freeman; and Hon. Jodi L. Williamson.