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ReapportionmentA Federal District Court panel has ruled that the State Reapportionment Commission may draw up new legislative and Congressional reapportionment plans to cover the 1984-90 elections. The panel's action came at the close of a June 20th hearing requested by the League of Women Voters since the Court's jurisdiction over the reapportionment plan case was scheduled to end on June 30. The three-member panel, presided over by Chief Judge Samuel P. King, also agreed to retain jurisdiction over the case until November 5, 1983. In April 1982, the panel invalidated the State's 1982-90 legislative and congressional reapportionment plans, an action which had been recommended by the League because of violations of the one-person, one vote principle. At that time, the panel also appointed five masters to draw up new plans for the 1982 election. During the hearing, League President and Attorney Peter Herman asked that either the 1982 Court plan be made permanent or the State Reapportionment Commission be allowed to propose new plans while the Court retains jurisdiction over the case. Herman emphasized that if the court retains jurisdiction, the League would not have to file a new lawsuit in case the proposed plans violate the one-person, one vote principle. If this situation were to occur, Herman told the panel, the League would ask the panel to invalidate the plans. Herman called the 1982 Court-drawn plan "Hawaii's first Constitutional reapportionment plan since Statehood." Herman told the panel that if the plans are not completed by the time the court's jurisdiction ends on November 5, the League intends to request another extension. Besides many League members, the hearing was attended by members of the press, the Honolulu City Council, the State Legislature and the State Republican Party (represented by John Carroll).
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