ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A special court panel has scheduled a hearing in January for a politically charged case over boundaries for Minnesota legislative and congressional districts.
The court released a schedule Thursday that requires most documents and proposed maps to be filed this fall. A court hearing is set for Jan. 4, although a final ruling isn't anticipated until late February.
It's part of a once-a-decade process for remaking the state's political maps to conform with population shifts detected by the census. The courts are expected to play the dominant role in deciding what the maps look like because a divided state government seems far from agreement.
The goal is to make all districts roughly equal in population size, but the process can affect which party has the upper hand in future elections.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
