Idaho Supreme Court upholds new legislative district map

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Supreme Court has upheld the state’s new map redrawing Idaho’s 35 legislative districts, finding that four separate lawsuits against the Idaho Commission for Reapportionment failed to show that the way the map split some counties was unreasonable.

The unanimous ruling written by Justice John Stegner was released Thursday afternoon.

The bipartisan Idaho Commission for Reapportionment is tasked every 10 years with redrawing voting districts based on the most recent census.

The lawsuits contended the new map split too many counties, but the high court said the commission did a laudable job of balancing the state prohibition against splitting counties unnecessarily against the federal equal protection clause.