Attorney says redistricting case will move quickly now
Jul. 17—A state district judge is expected to schedule a trial date soon for a state Republican Party lawsuit challenging a congressional district map approved by the Democrat-controlled Legislature.
According to online court records, 9th Judicial District Judge Fred T. Van Soelen has set July 28 to schedule hearings and other actions related to the case, which alleges Democratic lawmakers gerrymandered the boundaries of the state's congressional maps to benefit their party's candidate in the 2nd Congressional District, long anchored to Southern New Mexico and dominated by Republicans.
A recent state Supreme Court ruling gave the district court the power to hear the case and set a deadline of Oct. 1 to resolve the matter.
"In law time, that's tomorrow," attorney Lucas M. Williams of Hinkle Shanor LLP told members of the Legislature's interim Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee Monday. "There will be a lot of sleepless nights for lawyers across New Mexico."
Williams, whose firm is one of several representing the Legislature in the case, said from here on "it will be frenetic, and it will be busy" in terms of preparing and hearing the case.
The Republican Party of New Mexico and six individuals filed the current lawsuit in January 2022 in 5th Judicial District Court in Clovis. At stake is the political fate of the 2nd District, where Republican incumbent Yvette Herrell was narrowly defeated by Democrat Gabe Vasquez, a former Las Cruces city councilor, in the 2022 midterm elections.
The GOP contends the maps were redrawn to dilute the power of Republican voters in the district by shifting some communities with large numbers of Republicans into the two northern districts, where Democrats hold strong advantages, and then moving Democratic communities into the 2nd District.
The case was assigned to Van Soelen after all the judges in the 5th District, based in Clovis, either recused themselves or were unavailable to hear the case.
Republicans on the committee charged Democrats, who hold majorities in both houses in the Legislature, weakened conservative and Hispanic votes in the district through their redrawing of the map.
"That is an objectionable part of redistricting .... it is a shame that here in New Mexico we passed these maps," said Sen. Greg Baca, R-Belen
Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, who sponsored the bill redrawing the congressional map, defended his maps, said he proposed the new boundaries to make the "district look a little closer to the people being represented (there) than we did in the past."
Williams told the committee the Democratic National Committee is attempting to intervene in the case as it moves forward, though he did not offer specifics. Officials with the DNC did not respond to an email query about the matter Monday.
