The Connecticut Supreme Court appointed Nathaniel Persily, a Stanford University law professor, as a special master to assist it in the congressional redistricting process on Dec. 23, 2021. On Dec. 28, the court rejected a request from the Republican members of the Connecticut Reapportionment Commission asking the court to select a different special master or appoint two special masters representing Democrats and Republicans.
The court, in its rejection of the request, said: “We do not welcome unsolicited partisan filings and will not permit this Court to merely become an extension of the breakdown of the process the people of the state have commanded.”
Congressional mapmaking authority transferred to the court after the Connecticut Reapportionment Commission did not meet its initial Nov. 30 deadline to complete redistricting. The court granted the commission an extension to Dec. 21, which it also did not meet. The Connecticut Supreme Court’s deadline to draw a congressional map is Feb. 15, 2022.
Connecticut has completed its legislative redistricting, having enacted a state House map on Nov. 18 and a state Senate map on Nov. 23. The commission, made up of four Democratic lawmakers, four Republican lawmakers, and a ninth member selected by the commissioners, took over the redistricting process after the previous Reapportionment Committee failed to meet its Sept. 15 deadline to select maps and win two-thirds approval from both chambers of the Connecticut General Assembly.
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