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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Plenty of legal ‘jousting’ in redistricting arguments

Idaho's Supreme Court justices were very energetic in their questioning of Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane over the discretion of the state's redistricting commission. At one point, Justice Daniel Eismann asked Kane what the maximum number of counties is that could be divided. When Kane said there's "no guidance" on that, Eismann questioned whether all 44 could be divided, or whether there's some "magic number."

"The court had some excellent questions," Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said afterward. "It's tough - they zeroed in on it. Is there a finite number of splits?" He noted that in addition to the issues raised today, there's a second redistricting challenge awaiting hearing in two weeks, on Jan. 19. "Being a lawyer, I found it interesting, some pretty good jousting going on," Ysursa said. "I, of course, and the clerks, are concerned about timing." Idaho's primary election is May 15, and candidate filing - in whatever the new districts may be - starts Feb. 27. The justices said they'll take the matter under advisement.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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