State Rep. to appeal redistricting ruling to U.S. Supreme Court

<p>State Rep. Jane Kidd is asking the nation's highest court to decide whether a new congressional map that splits in half the Democratic stronghold of Athens is constitutional.</p><p>Attorneys for Kidd, an Athens Democrat, filed a notice in federal court this week that they intend to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the decision of a three-judge panel who upheld the redistricting.</p><p>The move comes on the heels of a separate lawsuit filed in Clarke County Superior Court by three Athens voters also named as plaintiffs in the federal case.</p><p>Kidd's attorneys argue that Georgia's Constitution allows state legislators to redraw district lines only after a census.</p><p>They contend that the bid to redraw the district came only after she announced plans to seek the open Senate seat now held by Republican Sen. Brian Kemp.</p><p>Kemp is vacating the seat to run for the state agricultural commissioner and his brother-in-law Bill Cowsert, a Republican attorney, faces Kidd in the general election.</p><p>State attorneys asserted that the redrawing was not dictated by politics, but a desire to better serve communities of interest. They also noted in court that Sen. Ralph Hudgens, the Republican who sponsored the changes and would represent the city's eastern half, had twice before sought to redraw the maps to unite Madison County under one district.</p><p>The plan was approved by the Senate and the House largely along party lines, signed into law by Gov. Sonny Perdue and approved by the U.S. Justice Department.</p><p>Kidd has said she intends to run for the open Senate seat regardless of the court's ruling.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/6/123009