Judge denies bid to toss out NM’s updated map, for now (Dem congressional gerrymandering stands)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | April 19, 2022 | Dan McKay

[CedarDave]

SANTA FE – A state judge in Clovis rejected a motion Tuesday that would have tossed out New Mexico’s new congressional map just days before the first ballots are due in the mail.

But District Judge Fred Van Soelen also refused to dismiss the case, leaving it alive with the potential to affect future elections after the June 7 primary.

In a pair of rulings Tuesday, the judge said the Republican Party of New Mexico and other plaintiffs had made a “strong, well-developed case that (the new map) is a partisan gerrymander created in an attempt to dilute Republican votes in Congressional races in New Mexico.”

Nevertheless, he said, he wasn’t making a final ruling on the merits of the case and would need to hear more argument from the attorneys.

The judge also said it’s too late to change the map so close to the primary election. The first ballots go out Saturday.

“To require a change this late in the game would bring a level of chaos to the process that is not in the public’s or the candidates’ interests,” Van Soelen said in a ruling denying the requested preliminary injunction.

He delivered the rulings a day after hearing arguments from the state Republican Party and other plaintiffs – who described the new map as an obvious and illegal partisan gerrymander designed to weaken the voting strength of conservatives in southeastern New Mexico.

Attorneys for Democratic legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, in turn, said the map met every constitutional requirement and cannot be overturned through judicial action.

In decisions issued Tuesday, Van Soelen rejected the Republican Party’s motion for a preliminary injunction to prohibit use of the new districts in this year’s primary and general elections.

[CedarDave]

The reason this decision is so late in coming from a state judge is that about a half-dozen other judges recused themselves from hearing the case for differing reasons.

The previous map generally had NM-1 as Albuquerque and immediate surrounding area (Bernalillo County), NM-2 as southern New Mexico and NM-3 as northern New Mexico. NM-2 currently has the only Pub representative and Lea County in far SE New Mexico is very Republican and the county itself is the number one oil and gas producing county in the US. As I reside in the newly gerrymandered area, I now have lost my representative and am in the same district as the radical environmental progressives in Santa Fe who want to cancel the oil and gas industry.

[Fido969]

Meanwhile the Stupid Party rolls over on redistricting.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo.(GOP)

Do we lose her?

[Tupelo]

“Meanwhile the Stupid Party rolls over on redistricting.”

Com’on Man, to paraphrase St. Barack, “Don’t underestimate The Republican Party’s ability to f*ck things up”

[Spok]

What’s interesting is that it’s the Democrats who can’t survive democracy. If they can’t gerrymander voting districts or stuff ballot boxes they’re finished and everybody knows it!

[Roadrunner383]

“Meanwhile the Stupid Party rolls over on redistricting.”

Roll over? In New Mexico? Governor is a Dem and the Dems have big margins in the NM House and Senate. Not a question of rolling over, Dems are in total control of redistricting in NM (unless a court reverses things).

[Savage Rider]

“To require a change this late in the game would bring a level of chaos to the process that is not in the public’s or the candidates’ interests,” If you let the primaries go ahead, and then change the map, there will also be chaos. The judge should have moved this along quicker and made a decision.

[Sirius Lee]

Meanwhile over at GOP headquarters...

[FlingWingFlyer]

Setting up congressional districts based on skin tone and ethnicity is the most damned racist thing the RAT ‘white supremacist’ DNC crackers can do. We aren’t supposed to be “native’ Americans, African Americans or Mexican Americans when we vote. We’re all supposed to be AMERICANS. Making the state districts look like a zigsaw puzzle on acid is flat moronic. If you’re something other than an American, your ass shouldn’t be voting anyway. Gerrymandering is (like the kids say) GAY! It’s homosexual too.

[Fido969]

Roll over?

The pubs are not playing in the states they do control like the 'rats are playing in the states the 'rats control.

[TexasGurl24]

Meanwhile the Stupid Party rolls over on redistricting.

Too bad reality doesn’t jive with your tantrum. The GOP is suing in NM and IL. Lawsuits were also successful in Maryland and New York. New York is on appeal and Maryland resulted in a new map. DeSantis just pushed through a 20-8 map that was just approved by the Senate and will completely wipe out anything that happens in New York, even if the judges there ignore the State Constitution. There is also still a push for a 7-1 map in Missouri.

The Ohio map is going to be used for 2022 regardless of what the OH Supreme Court wants. The GOP tried in NC, but there is nothing that can be done about the 4-3 Democrat majority there.

I understand that you desperately want democrats to win in November. However, that isn’t going to happen.

[Wizdum]

With this new map, the Dims will not have to go through the expense of creating votes to win election.

[CedarDave]

Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo.(GOP) Do we lose her?

Not in the primary, but as I've been gerrymanded into NM-3 I can't vote for her. When the Dems did this, they made sure that all of the "new" districts were majority Dem by as much as 10% or more.

[CedarDave]

If you let the primaries go ahead, and then change the map, there will also be chaos. The judge should have moved this along quicker and made a decision.

The judge acted fast; he just got the case in the past week due to all the other judges first assigned it recusing themselves.

[Fido969]

I understand that you desperately want democrats to win in November.

Really? I want the rats to win? You're a putz.

[TexasGurl24]

Yes. When you constantly trash the GOP, particularly when you do so with trailer park lies, you are advancing the cause of the Rats.

[Fido969]

How does that translate into I “want the rats to win”?

[CedarDave]

NM list PING!

I may not PING for all New Mexico articles. To see New Mexico articles by topic click here: New Mexico Topics

To see NM articles by keyword, click here: New Mexico Keyword

To see the NM Message Page, click here: New Mexico Messages

(The NM list is available on my FR homepage for FR member use; its use in the News Forum should not be for trivial or inconsequential posts. Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)
(For ABQ Journal articles requiring a subscription, you are allowed a number of free article views.)