Advisory jury in PSC redistricting case doesn’t see proof of gerrymander
Keila Szpaller
(Daily Montanan) In a 9-3 verdict Friday, an advisory jury found plaintiffs in a redistricting lawsuit didn’t “prove” the Montana Legislature gerrymandered in redrawing Public Service Commission districts.
The jury verdict is not binding, and Lewis and Clark District Court Judge Christopher Abbot said he would take it under advisement in considering the legal questions in the case.
The parties will present the court with their final arguments by Jan. 4. The Montana Free Press first reported the jury verdict.
In October 2023, Montana Conservation Voters and eight individuals sued the Secretary of State alleging a Public Service Commission map the Legislature adopted was gerrymandered to benefit Republicans and was unconstitutional.
They argued the map violated the state’s equal protection and suffrage clauses.
In February 2024, Abbott agreed the map was likely unconstitutional, because at least Districts 3 and 5 appeared to disadvantage voters on the basis of political ideas.
The Public Service Commission regulates monopoly utilities and is made up of five commissioners elected by district, currently all Republican.
An old map from 2003 was declared unconstitutional in 2022 because the districts weren’t evenly proportioned, deviating as much as 24%.
The legislature adopted a new map in 2023 through Senate Bill 109, the one in question in Abbott’s court.
Although the judge rejected in February a request from plaintiffs, represented by Upper Seven, to stop use of the new map, the judge also denied the state’s motion to dismiss the case altogether.
The judge said he wasn’t tossing the map because the alternative map was flawed too. He said it disadvantaged a different group, not Democrats but voters who live in the largest districts.
But the judge also outlined the reason the new map was likely unconstitutional.
In the order, he cited a mathematics expert who testified for the plaintiffs in the case and found the map was “an extreme outlier” compared with more than 100,000 maps with respect to partisan outcomes; the Free Press noted the mathematician testified last week to even more comparisons.
The judge’s earlier order also said the state did not meaningfully rebut the analysis from the mathematician, who had in the past found maps to have disadvantaged both Republicans and Democrats.
Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, had proposed the map in SB 109, and the court acknowledged his map did a better job of achieving population parity than a map imposed by federal judges after the 2003 one was found to be unconstitutional.
The Legislature has the authority in Montana to draw PSC district maps.
The earlier order said Regier denied any knowledge of the partisan lean of the districts, but the record didn’t contain information about who might have helped him or their motivations.
The question the jury answered was the following, according to a form filed with the court:
“Did the plaintiffs prove that the Montana State Legislature intended to use the PSC district boundaries they drew in Senate Bill 109 to favor or disfavor certain candidates or groups of voters based on their political beliefs or partisan affiliation?”
The answer was “no.”
Although the jury didn’t find enough evidence to show intent in skewing the map in favor of Republicans, the judge could find the districts are unconstitutional regardless.