LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — Denver District Chief Judge Robert Hyatt on Thursday adopted the Congressional redistricting map pushed by Democrats that would turn the solidly Republican Sixth Congressional District into the state’s most competitive district.
Mark Grueskin of Heizer Paul Grueskin, the attorney who represented the Democratic plaintiffs whose map won out, applauded the court’s embrace of competitive districts in the third, sixth and seventh districts.
“In this era where Congress is confronted by its own gridlock, [the redistricting decision] is a powerful message for Colorado and the nation,” Grueskin said.
In the conclusion of his order, Hyatt wrote that the prevailing plaintiffs “have most accurately reflected and preserved current communities of interest in 2011. Their districts, as contained in the Moreno/South Map, are also as compact as possible, minimize jurisdictional splits wherever possible, encourage unification of major cities like Aurora and preserve existing district lines as appropriate. They have avoided a constitutionally suspect race-based mapping strategy. The Moreno Plaintiffs have satisfied all mandatory and discretionary redistricting criteria that are discussed at length in this Order.”
Here are the Congressional districts that the court adopted, and below that you can read the full text of Hyatt’s ruling:
