Council member brought action against members of county election board for declaratory judgment that county redistricting ordinance failed to comply with redistricting statute for Marion County since council passed ordinance in last month of 2011 before opposing political party gained control of council. The Superior Court granted mayor’s request to intervene, but declared that ordinance failed to satisfy the requirement for mandatory redistricting during 2012 and divided the county into twenty-five new districts. Mayor appealed and requested transfer. Transfer was granted.
The Supreme Court of Indiana held that since dispute did not present a redistricting impasse, Supreme Court would adopt interpretation of redistricting statute that upheld ordinance.
Dispute over whether council and mayor acted too early by passing redistricting ordinance for Marion County in December of 2011 and signing it on January 1, 2012, just before opposing political party took control of council, did not present a redistricting impasse that required judicial intervention, and, thus, the Supreme Court, as a matter of judicial restraint, would adopt interpretation of redistricting statute that upheld ordinance and avoided judicial line-drawing in what was presumptively a matter for the legislative and executive branches of local government to address.