The redistricting train wreck

Nevada’s redistricting plan is more than four months overdue, and still no one wants to take responsibility for the job.

On Monday, Secretary of State Ross Miller took the extreme step of urging the Nevada Supreme Court to crack its whip. District Judge James Todd Russell of Carson City was supposed to rule on legal concerns presented by attorneys for Democrats and Republicans and thereby provide clear guidelines for the redrawing of legislative and congressional boundaries. The sooner he issued his rulings, the sooner appeals could be sorted out by the high court, and the sooner next year’s campaigns could take shape.

Instead, Judge Russell has shown as much ambition and urgency as the Legislature itself, which shamefully punted the task to him this summer. Despite having the case for months, the judge decided to let a panel of three special masters answer several legal questions, foremost among them whether one of the state’s four congressional districts and several legislative districts should have Hispanic majorities.

Mr. Miller asked the Supreme Court justices to order Judge Russell to issue rulings or take the case from him and rule themselves. “The District Court has impermissibly abdicated its duty to make these rulings of law, which will cause the special masters to draw maps without any definitive direction on key legal issues,” Mr. Miller’s petition said.

Judge Russell wants those special masters to finish their maps by Oct. 21. He said he wouldn’t decide whether to accept those maps or order changes until Nov. 16. An inevitable appeal to the Supreme Court would follow, a process that could add untold additional weeks to the process.

Independent candidates for office are supposed to be able to begin circulating petitions for spots on next year’s ballots Jan. 2. County clerks are supposed to provide political parties with the number of registered partisans in each voting precinct 90 days before the presidential caucus. That deadline is just a couple of weeks away. And candidates who want to lay the groundwork for next year’s campaign still have no idea which district they reside in.

Judge Russell’s nonfeasance has created “a substantial risk of delaying these proceedings since the maps will likely have to be redrawn after the District Court rules on these legal issues,” Mr. Miller’s petition says.

The Legislature — especially its Democratic majority — has only itself to blame for this train wreck. Democrats never held meaningful negotiations with minority Republicans, compelling GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval to veto their maps. Instead of making an all-out effort to reach a redistricting deal prior to adjournment in June, lawmakers quit. Courts are supposed to be arbiters of last resort, not fill-ins for the lazy and irresponsible.

Gov. Sandoval has expressed confidence in Judge Russell. The judge has given us no reason to be so optimistic. We’d prefer to see lawmakers clean up their mess themselves.