ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Minnesota expert in boundaries for congressional districts, Peter Wattson, said he is asking the state Supreme Court to appoint a nonpartisan panel to adjust boundaries to even out boundaries to reflect new census data. Wattson did it before – 10 years ago in 2011. It seemed certain then that bickering partisans in the Legislature, each focusing only on political advantage, could never work it out. The state constitutional deadline for redistricting is almost a year off, February 15, but no one, Wattson said, expects that Democratic-led House, Republican-led Senate and Democratic Governor Tim Walz can come up with anything but grotesque gerrymandering schemes. “I would be totally stunned if this is an exception to the rule this year,” Wattson said in an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In fact, he noted, courts have stepped into Minnesota’s map-drawing every decade since the 1980s for congressional districts and since the 1970s for state legislative districts. Wattson is retired counsel for the Minnesota Senate and a 40-year veteran of state legal service.
