Comments on: Court sidelines gerrymander cases https://www.overlawyered.com/2018/06/court-sidelines-gerrymander-cases/ Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 19 Jun 2018 18:59:02 +0000 hourly 1 By: Paul McKaskle https://www.overlawyered.com/2018/06/court-sidelines-gerrymander-cases/comment-page-1/#comment-349075 Tue, 19 Jun 2018 18:59:02 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=71288#comment-349075 Isn’t it curious that the case was remanded rather than dismissed, as Justices Thomas and Gorsuch argued. The case goes back to the same three judge panel that ruled for the plaintiffs in the first place. There would be no bar to the plaintiffs (or an equivalent group) to bring a new lawsuit urging the issues that the concurrence set forth. The consequence is that a panel favorable to the plaintiffs still has the case. Was this intentional? Another consequence might be that much time could be saved on re-litigation since much of the discovery and testimony of experts can probably be re-used.

The further consequence may well be that the case can come back before the Court much earlier with a plaintiff victory being the result of the lower court judgment. I presume this is something the concurrence would like. The curious thing is why the majority decided this was an appropriate course of action. (Possibly Justice Kennedy wanted the case to come back before the decennial redistricting. Who knows).

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