TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas woman has filed a federal lawsuit over the state Legislature’s failure so far to redraw the state’s political boundaries.
Robyn Renee Essex, a resident of the Kansas City suburb of Olathe, filed her litigation Thursday in U.S. District Court. She argues the state’s existing political boundaries violate her constitutional rights because they haven’t been adjusted yet to account for changes in population over the past decade.
One of her attorneys, Brent Haden, of Columbia, Mo., is a former chief of staff to Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican.
In the lawsuit, Essex expressed doubt that legislators will be able to break a stalemate on redistricting. She suggests that one option would be for a panel of three-federal judges to set new legislative and congressional districts.
