Plaintiffs drop appeal of SLO County judge’s redistricting ruling

February 28, 2022

By KAREN VELIE

A group focused on overturning the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors’ vote to redraw the county’s five supervisorial districts abandoned an appeal with the 2nd Appellate District Court in Ventura on Feb. 25, less than a month after the California Supreme Court denied another attempt. This is the plaintiff’s third loss.

SLO County Citizens for Good Government and three SLO County residents, registered Democrats, filed a lawsuit on Jan. 12 challenging the county’s selection of the Patten map, arguing it benefits the Republican Party at the expense of Democrats.

On Feb. 10, Superior Court Judge Rita Federman rejected the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the county’s adopted map. The plaintiffs asked the court to order the county to either revert back to the old boundary map, or select Map A.

The plaintiff’s then asked the California Supreme Court to seek an injunction to stop the county from using the adopted map in the June 7 Primary Election. However, California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauy found that based on the truncated and incomplete record, “neither the trial court nor this court could undertake a final adjudication of plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order under such circumstances.”

The plaintiffs also filed an appeal of Judge Federman’s denial of the temporary restraining order with the 2nd Appellate District Court, that based on the court’s future scheduled actions, would not be heard until after the June 7 Primary Election. Even though the group paid to file the appeal, they then filed a motion to abandon the pleading.

As a result, candidates for the June 7 election will rely on the Patten map to determine their district. While the plaintiffs lost their motion for a temporary restraining order, the case is ongoing with a case management conference scheduled in March.