Court rules for Arizona redistricting commission

By PAUL DAVENPORT
Associated Press

PHOENIX - An appellate court has ruled that Arizona's redistricting commission generally must follow the state's open meeting law but that prosecutors cannot resume an investigation into whether the commission violated the law when it hired mapping consultants.

A Court of Appeals panel's ruling is the latest chapter in a series of still-broiling legal fights over the commission's politically contentious work of drawing new congressional and legislative districts.

Along with saying the commission is generally subject to the open meeting law, the panel's ruling says the commission's internal communications concerning the hiring of a mapping consultant are not legally shielded.

But the decision also says there's no reasonable cause to justify conducting an investigation.

The open law meeting generally requires that bodies do their work in the open.

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• Arizona redistricting panel objects to March trial
• New Arizona maps help produce tight election races

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